Development of a Personalized Near-Peer Mentoring Programme for Final-Year Medical Students with Residents as Mentors

Abstract

Background Near-peer mentoring is a process where a mentor is close to the social, professional, or age level of the mentee. Near-peer mentors are better able to interact with and understand the struggles of students. Objective The aim of the programme was to increase confidence of students in the final year examination. Methods Following a needs analysis of final-year medical students, a near-peer mentoring programme was designed using peer-assisted learning framework. In the programme conducted between November 2019 and March 2020, trained Internal Medicine junior residents were assigned to students grouped according to the examination domains they most needed improvement in. Pre- and post-intervention data on students’ confidence in each of the examination domains using a 5-point Likert scale (1: Not confident at all and 5: Very confident), mock examination scores and feedback on the programme were collected. Results Fifty-one students were enrolled. Thirty-one students completed the post-programme survey, of which 71.0% felt more confident in the final year examination. Of the twenty-eight students who completed both the pre- and post-programme survey, 78.6%, 78.6% and 60.7% of them showed an increase in confidence in the communications, physical examination and history component of the examination, respectively. There was no association found between confidence level and examination performance. Conclusion A personalized near-peer mentoring programme is effective in increasing confidence of students in examinations and serves as a platform for residents to hone their skills as mentors. Its role as part of the medical school curriculum is worth exploring.