#UroStream101: Social Media as a Medium for Mentorship in Urology

Abstract

Show feasibility of and develop a program to provide mentorship for applicants to urology residency during COVID-19 using a virtual program, #UroStream101. Urology resident volunteers were paired with fourth year medical students based on shared areas of urologic interest and geographic location. A mentorship guide was provided.Mentees were offered an opportunity to design a twitter based educational resource, tweetorial, with mentor supervision.Program success was assessed by participation and with MEMeQ, a validated mentorship assessment survey. A total of 111 students and 93 urology residents enlisted in #Urostream101. All AUA sections were represented. At time of enrollment, 19% (n=21) of medical students lacked affiliation with urology department, 24% (n=27) lacked urology mentors, and 32% (n=36) had no formal clinical exposure to urology.Many students joined twitter during the application cycle (45% within 1 month of enrollment, n=50) for solely professional reasons (71% of participants, n=79).When asked their top priority in participating in #UroStream101, most students answered resident mentorship (61%, n=68) followed by exposure to a geographically distant urology program (32%, n=36). Twenty tweetorials were created spanning the breadth of urology.A total of 29 students (26%) completed the full MEMeQ evaluation survey, assessing a student's goals and satisfaction with mentor.Overall program satisfaction was 6.1/7 on Likert scale, "very satisfied."Students identified program selection and ERAS application assistance as their main goals. #UroStream101 was a successful mentorship program for students interested in urology.This was desperately needed during an atypical application cycle and provides invaluable insight into further development of formal mentorship programs.