Abstract
IntroductionMentoring has become a prevalent educational strategy in medical education, with various aims. Published reviews of mentoring report very little on group-based mentorship programs. The aim of this systematic review was to identify group-based mentorship programs for undergraduate medical students and describe their aims, structures, contents and program evaluations. Based on the findings of this review, the authors provide recommendations for the organization and assessment of such programs.MethodsA systematic review was conducted, according to PRISMA guidelines, and using the databases Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and ERIC up to July 2019. Eight hundred abstracts were retrieved and 20 studies included. Quality assessment of the quantitative studies was done using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI).ResultsThe 20 included studies describe 17 different group mentorship programs for undergraduate medical students in seven countries. The programs were differently structured and used a variety of methods to achieve aims related to professional development and evaluation approaches. Most of the studies used a single-group cross-sectional design conducted at a single institution. Despite the modest quality, the evaluation data are remarkably supportive of mentoring medical students in groups.DiscussionGroup mentoring holds great potential for undergraduate medical education. However, the scientific literature on this genre is sparse. The findings indicate that group mentorship programs benefit from being longitudinal and mandatory. Ideally, they should provide opportunities throughout undergraduate medical education for regular meetings where discussions and personal reflection occur in a supportive environment.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s40037-020-00610-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Mentoring has become a prevalent educational strategy in medical education, with various aims
The findings indicate that group mentorship programs benefit from being longitudinal and mandatory
The backdrop for establishing mentorship programs in medical education is a number of welldocumented stressors that many students face in their learning environments [7,8,9], influencing professional identity formation, empathy and patientcentered attitudes in a negative way [10,11,12,13]
Summary
Mentoring has become a prevalent educational strategy in medical education, with various aims. Mentoring of medical students has become a prevalent educational strategy, in European and North American medical schools, with the purposes of offering support and guidance, providing a fulfilling student experience and stimulating or sustaining professional development [1, 2]. This method is utilized to increase students’ understanding of the competencies required of physicians and the professional roles they are to fulfil [3]. It has been shown that longitudinal and integrated mentoring can improve psychosocial skills and humanistic attitudes, even when assessed 10 years after graduation from medical school [16]
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