Mentors and Role Models: the Role Female Medical Educators Serve for Female Medical Students.
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ABSTRACT: Supplementary information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-023-01776-1.
SUBMITTER: Christensen HR
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10226934 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Mentors and Role Models: the Role Female Medical Educators Serve for Female Medical Students.
Christensen Heather R HR Bognar Ellie Sidler ES
Medical science educator 20230330 2
Discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has moved to the forefront in medical education, and in particular, efforts toward gender equity have emphasized the need for more women faculty and physicians. Gender parity was recently achieved for medical students matriculating into US allopathic schools during the 2017-2018 academic year<sup>1</sup>. However, this documented increase in women attending medical school as students is not matched by an increase in women teaching in the under ...[more]
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Project description:ObjectivesTo explore how mentors perceive and perform their role in a longitudinal mentorship programme with the objective of guiding medical students in becoming reflective learners.MethodsA qualitative exploratory study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 16 mentors from the Ghent University medical education mentoring programme. Participants were selected by purposeful sampling on gender, years of experience and area of specialisation. Interview transcripts were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Afterwards, all transcripts were re-analysed combining the resulting themes to identify different mentoring profiles.ResultsOur analysis yielded three themes. First, the basic conditions for mentorship showed wide differences in competencies that mentors considered necessary. Second, goals and purposes of mentoring identified roles ranging from ombudsperson, confidential advisor, role model to guide towards professional and personal growth. Third, attitudes to the mentoring programme revealed a wide variation from fully embracing to rejecting the reflective method. Further analysis led to three mentor profiles: reflective, sharing and advising. Even reflective mentors struggled in varying degrees with applying the guidelines, mostly depending on prior experience with reflection. Advising mentors found the intervision techniques too constrictive and expressed doubts about the usefulness of the programme.ConclusionsIn this reflection-based mentoring programme, different mentor perceptions strongly determined how reflection is being taught to medical students. This may affect the students' professional identity formation. Training should enable mentors to reflect on their beliefs and mentoring style. Further research is needed on the effects of reflection in mentoring and on mentor selection.
| S-EPMC11687378 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeSocial media (SM) is one of the most powerful tools of communication and learning in the recent era. Different types of information can be shared through these social networking sites in the form of texts, videos, pictures, audios, and references (contacts). Due to the constant increase in the use of these social networking sites in our daily routine life especially during the COVID 19 pandemic, their use in teaching and learning has become inevitable. Social media has immense potential to enhance its role in educational settings. Both the students and educators use it for communication, education, sharing and expressing knowledge, and recreation. Therefore, the present study aims to find out the most frequently used social network sites for learning and easy communication between medical students and educators.ObjectiveThis study sought to explore the most frequently used social networking sites by the medical students and educators at Batterjee Medical College.MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the trends of usage of SM as an extracurricular way of enhancing learning and teaching experience among medical students and educators in Batterjee Medical College; Saudi Arabia from November 2020 to March 2021.A pre-validated self-administrated questionnaire was built using Google Drive forms and distributed to medical students and educators via emails and WhatsApp. Convenient sampling was used to collect the data.ConclusionSocial media has immense potential to enhance its role in educational settings. Students in our study preferred YouTube and WhatsApp for their learning and communication especially, during COVID 19 pandemic. However, to further enhance their utility choosing the right platform, the amount and quality of the information shared to ensure optimal benefit, providing ethical guides, and professional standards for SM use at institutional levels are the few challenges that need to address.
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Project description:Expanding the talent pipeline of students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM has been a priority in the United States for decades. However, potential solutions to increase the number of such students in STEM academic pathways, measured using longitudinal randomized controlled trials in real-world contexts, have been limited. Here, we expand on an earlier investigation that reported results from a longitudinal field experiment in which undergraduate female students (N = 150) interested in engineering at college entry were randomly assigned a female peer mentor in engineering, a male peer mentor in engineering, or not assigned a mentor for their first year of college. While an earlier article presented findings from participants' first two years of college, the current article reports the same participants' academic experiences for each year in college through college graduation and one year post-graduation. Compared to the male peer mentor and no mentor condition, having a female peer mentor was associated with a significant improvement in participants' psychological experiences in engineering, aspirations to pursue postgraduate engineering degrees, and emotional well-being. It was also associated with participants' success in securing engineering internships and retention in STEM majors through college graduation. In sum, a low-cost, short peer mentoring intervention demonstrates benefits in promoting female students' success in engineering from college entry, through one-year post-graduation.
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Project description:Rationale and objectivesThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in significant changes to medical student education by disrupting clinical rotations, licensing exams, and residency applications. To evaluate the pandemic's impact and required modifications of radiology medical student courses, the authors developed and administered surveys to Alliance of Medical Student Educators in Radiology (AMSER) faculty and enrolled medical students. The surveys requested feedback and insight about respondents' experiences and innovations.Materials and methodsAnonymous twenty-question and seventeen-question surveys about the pandemic's impact on medical student education were distributed via email to AMSER members and medical students. The surveys consisted of multiple choice, ranking, Likert scale, and open-ended questions. Differences in the Likert score agreement was performed using one-sided Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests. Survey data were collected using SurveyMonkey (San Mateo, California). This study was IRB exempt.ResultsThe AMSER survey indicated 96% of institutions cancelled medical student courses and 92% resumed with virtual courses, typically general radiology. A total of 64% of faculty enjoyed online teaching, although 82% preferred on-site courses. A total of 62% of students felt an online radiology course was an excellent alternative to an on-site rotation, although 27% disagreed. A total of 69% of students who completed both on-site and online courses preferred the on-site format. Survey-reported innovations and free response comments have been collated as educational resources.ConclusionFaculty were able to adapt radiology courses to the online environment utilizing interactive lectures, self-directed learning, flipped classroom sessions, and virtual readouts, which were effective for student respondents. Hybrid rotations with on-site and online elements may offer the best of both worlds.
| S-EPMC8735856 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundMedical student learning experiences should facilitate progressive development of competencies required for practice. Medical school training opportunities have traditionally focused on acquiring medical knowledge and patient care competencies while affording less opportunity to receive feedback on practice-based improvement and system-based practice competencies. The Prematriculation program at the University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth Campus (UM MSD) utilized near-peer mentors to support the transition of students underrepresented in medicine, including American Indian/ Alaska Natives (AI/AN) and those from rural backgrounds, into medical school. The purpose of this study is to better define the role of near-peer mentors and explore the alignment of near-peer mentorship with the ACGME core competencies.MethodsAn important component of the Prematriculation program, designed to prepare incoming under-represented students for medical school, was the inclusion of near-peer mentors. The six near-peer mentors participated in semi-structured interviews or focus groups within 1 year of serving as a near-peer mentor. Themes emerged from open-coding of the transcripts.ResultsThe near-peer mentors drew on their own experiences to transmit information that supported the socialization of the matriculating students into medical school. Direct benefits to the mentors included solidifying their own understanding of medical knowledge and execution of procedural skills. Mentors provided examples of benefits related to their own development of interpersonal communication and professionalism skills. Operating in the context of the program provided opportunities to engage mentors in practice-based improvement and system-based practice.ConclusionsServing as a near-peer mentor offers significant benefits to medical students from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine. By taking on the peer mentoring leadership role, students progressed toward the competencies required of an effective physician. Given the importance of acquiring these competencies, it is worth considering how near-peer mentoring can be applied more broadly across the medical school curriculum.
| S-EPMC6849195 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionMedical students' professional development includes their role as educators. Despite greater opportunities to join medical education curriculum development, medical students' engagement in these activities remains limited. A recent national study on student leadership in curricular change revealed a formal lack of leadership and training in medical education as significant barriers. Medical students' unawareness of how to disseminate curricula as educational scholarship and its value to their careers also restricts the fullness of their formation as educators.MethodsWe designed a 3-hour, interactive, project-focused conference workshop for medical students without prior knowledge in curriculum development. Of participants, 64 worked in 10 groups creating medical curricula using Kern's six-step approach in student-facilitated breakout sessions. Completed group projects were presented, including brief action plans for transforming their work into scholarship. The workshop was evaluated using a mixed-methods approach.ResultsOf survey respondents, 44 mostly medical students, faculty, and administrators from different institutions rated the workshop as a very positive experience, and the pacing of the breakout groups as effective. A notable increase in self-reported mastery, as measured by learning objectives aligned with Kern's six-step model, was recorded from student respondents as compared to faculty. A sense of readiness to participate in curricular decisions either at the home institution or in individual career paths was evident from narrative comments.DiscussionOur workshop provided medical students with a foundation in curriculum development and educational scholarship. Session design provided flexibility in the pace of breakout sessions and allowed in-depth discussion of educational topics.
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Project description:Research indicates that increasing diversity in doctoral programs can positively affect students' academic success. However, little research examines students' responses to female scholars' representation. The two studies presented here examine how students' exposure to female academic role models shapes students' attitudes toward their own academic success (i.e. self-efficacy). Such attitudes are critical because they predict student retention rates. In our first study, we randomly exposed 297 Ph.D. students in one academic discipline to either a gender-diverse (i.e. 30% female authors) or non-diverse syllabus in research methods (i.e. 10% female authors). We examined the effect of the intervention on students' perceived likelihood of succeeding in the hypothetical course. Contrary to expectations derived from the literature, we found that increasing women's representation in syllabi did not affect female students' self-efficacy. Rather, male students expressed lower self-efficacy when evaluating the more gender-diverse syllabus. We also found that students' attitudes toward diversity in academia predicted their reactions more strongly than did their own gender: gender-diverse syllabi reduced self-efficacy among those students unsupportive of diversity. In our second study, we analyzed non-interventional survey questions to examine the relationship between female role models and long-term academic self-efficacy. Analysis was observational and thus did not assess causality. We found that students with more role models have higher academic self-efficacy, irrespective of student and role model gender. Nonetheless, results also suggested that some students actively seek female role models: namely, female students, and particularly those valuing diversity. Our results ultimately suggest that exposure to female role models relates in surprising ways to Ph.D. students' self-efficacy. Having more female role models correlates with greater expectations of academic success among certain groups of students, but with diminished expectations of academic success among other groups.
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Project description:ObjectiveIn the United States, physicians and residents report inadequate training in managing adolescents and young adults (AYAs) during the transition from pediatric to adult care, particularly AYAs with chronic illnesses such as sickle cell disease (SCD). We developed an intervention where medical students serve as similar-aged "peer" mentors to offer informational and developmentally appropriate support to AYA patients during the period of transition. Our initial work showed the feasibility and acceptability of this intervention for young adults with SCD. In this report, we evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of this non-randomized trial on medical student mentors.MethodsFollowing training, medical student mentors were paired 1:1 with an AYA with SCD who was transitioning from pediatric to adult care. They conducted monthly video calls with mentees to address specific transition and disease self-management topics. Students completed baseline and follow-up surveys regarding knowledge of SCD and empathy. Satisfaction was measured at follow-up via survey and an exit interview.ResultsNine medical students were paired with a total of 24 patients. Student retention was 100%, but only eight completed the follow-up survey. Students reported increased knowledge about managing a chronic illness and transition and improved understanding about the patient's experience navigating the healthcare system. Students expressed high satisfaction.ConclusionsA medical student mentor intervention was feasible and acceptable to medical students and may provide an opportunity for value-added role in medical education. Further research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of this type of intervention on both student and patient outcomes.
| S-EPMC11811965 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundWork-integrated learning constitutes a large part of current healthcare education. During the last decades, a competency-based educational (CBE) approach has been introduced to reduce the theory-practice gap and to promote continuous competency development. Different frameworks and models have been developed to support CBE implementation in practice. Although CBE is now well-established, implementation at healthcare workplaces remains complex and controversial. This study aims to explore how students, mentors, and educators from different healthcare disciplines perceive the implementation of CBE at the workplace. The six-step model of Embo et al. (2015) was used as a base: (1) competency selection, (2) formulating learning goals, (3) self-monitoring performance, (4) self-assessing competency development, (5) summative assessment of individual competencies, and (6) summative assessment of global professional competence.MethodsThree semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with (1) five students, (2) five mentors, and (3) five educators. We recruited participants from six different educational programs: audiology, midwifery, nursing (associate degree and bachelor), occupational therapy, or speech therapy. We used thematic analysis combining an inductive and deductive approach.ResultsAn overview of the predefined competencies was hard to find which complicated CBE implementation and resulted in a lack of consistency between the steps; e.g., the link between the selection of relevant competencies (step 1) and the formulation of learning goals based on these selected competencies (step 2) was absent. Furthermore, the analysis of the data helped identifying seven barriers for CBE implementation: (1) a gap between the educational program and the workplace, (2) a lacking overview of predefined competencies, (3) a major focus on technical competencies at the expense of generic competencies, (4) weak formulation of the learning goals, (5) obstacles related to reflection, (6) low feedback quality, and (7) perceived subjectivity of the assessment approach.ConclusionThe present barriers to CBE implementation lead to a fragmentation of current work-integrated learning. In this way, theory beats practice when it comes to CBE implementation as the theory of CBE is not effectively implemented. However, the identification of these barriers might help to find solutions to optimize CBE implementation. Future research seems critical to optimize CBE so that theory can meet practice and the opportunities of CBE optimize healthcare education.
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