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Group mentorship for undergraduate medical students—a systematic review Cover

Group mentorship for undergraduate medical students—a systematic review

Open Access
|Aug 2020

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Search in Medline

Number

1

Exp Mentors/

2

Exp Mentoring/

3

(mentora adj3 programa).ti

4

(mentora adj3 groupa).ti

5

(physician adj3 apprenticeshipa).ti,ab

6

Education, medical/and education, medical, undergraduate/

7

(Medical adj3 studenta).ti

8

(Medical adj3 undergraduatea).ti,ab

9

1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5

10

7 or 8 or 9

11

10 and 11

aIndicates truncation

Table 2

Selection criteria

Inclusion

Exclusion

Population

Undergraduate medical students

Graduate and postgraduate medical students, junior doctors, physicians

Intervention

Description of group-based mentorship programs in undergraduate medical education focusing on professional development

Evaluation of the mentorship program, either by mentors or mentees or both

One-on-one mentorship

Mentorship programs inadequately described, i.e. lacking details on structure, objectives and/or evaluation

Programs aimed at recruiting students to particular specialties or field of interests

Programs aimed at medical students who need academic supervision or remediation

Programs aimed at under-represented minority medical students

Comparison

Comparison of group-based mentorship programs

Outcome

Outcomes of mentorship programs on the mentor or mentee

Evaluation forms and surveys

Study design

Peer-reviewed papers

Reviews

Conference presentations

Commentaries

Letters

Editorials

Fig. 1

Flow chart

Table 3

Main elements of the programs

Author

Country

Year established

Mentors

Mentees

Mentor-mentee ratio

Longitudinal program

Mandatory

Evaluation

MERSQI (min 5, max 18)

Kirk-patrick levelsc

Blatt et al. [25]

USA

Physicians and psychosocial professionals

MS‑1 to MS‑4

1:4–5 (2:8–9)

Y

Y

Y

11

1, 2, 4

Lutz et al. [37]

Germany

2013

Faculty members and near-peers

MS‑1

1:4–5 (2:8–9)

N

N

Y

N/A

1, 2

Andre et al. [26]

USA

2006

Faculty members and MS‑4

MS‑1 to MS‑4

1:11 (4:44)

Y

Y

Y

6.5

1, 2

Varma et al. [39]

India

2009

Faculty members

MS‑1

1:8–16

N

N/A

N/A

Kalen et al. [42]

Sweden

2007

Physicians

MS‑1 to MS‑5

1:4

Y

Y

Y

N/A

1, 2, 3

Duke et al. [27]

USA

2015

Faculty members

MS‑3

1:9

N

Y

Y

8

1, 2, 3

Singh et al.a [41]

India

2010

Faculty mentors and near-peers

MS‑1

1:2 (2:3)

N

N

Y

7.5

1, 2

Boudreau et al.b [35]

Canada

2005

Physicians and near-peers

MS‑1 to MS‑4

1:3 (2:6)

Y

Y

N/A

1, 2, 3

Taylor et al. [28]

USA

2006

MS‑2

MS‑1

1:4 (2:8)

N

Y

Y

8

1, 2

Fleming et al. [29]

USA

2011

Faculty members

MS‑1 to MS‑4

1:25–28

Y

Y

Y

6.5

1

Bhatia et al. [40]

India

2009

Faculty members

MS‑1

1:2–3

N

N

Y

8

1, 2

Goncalves et al. [43]

Brazil

2001

Physicians

MS‑1 to MS‑6

1:12–14

Y

N

Y

N/A

1

Usmani et al. [44]

Pakistan

2008

Faculty members

MS‑1 and MS‑2

1:10

N

Y

Y

8

1

Elliott et al. [30]

USA

2001

Faculty members

MS‑1 and MS‑2

1:12 (2:24)

N

Y

Y

6

1, 2

Macaulay et al. [31]

USA

2003

Faculty members

MS‑1 to MS‑4

1:30

Y

Y

6.5

1

Goldstein et al. [32]

USA

2004

Faculty members

MS‑1 to MS‑4

1:6

Y

Y

Y

N/A

1, 2, 3

Scheckler et al. [33]

USA

1985

Faculty members

MS‑1 to MS‑4

One mentor per class

Y

N

N/A

N/A

Woessner et al. [38]

Germany

1995

Faculty members

MS from different years

1:12

N

N

Y

6

1

Median 1:9

Yes: 9

No: 9

Yes: 9

No: 5

Yes: 16

No: 2

Mean 7.4

SD 1.44

MS Medical student; The number following MS denotes the year of the program (e.g. MS‑1 refers to a 1st-year medical student)

Y yes, N no, – no information

aSingh et al. 2010 is the revised version of the mentoring program at the University of Delhi, India, described by Bhatia et al. 2009

bBoudreau et al. 2005 is one of three studies identified in the literature search all describing the physician apprenticeship (PA) program at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Boudreau et al. 2005 describes the program and the assessment of it to such an extent that the two other studies need not be included in the table.

cKirkpatrick levels; Level 1 refers to the level of reaction or feelings by the learners to all factors in an educational program. Level 2 refers to the changes in the learners caused by participation in the program. Level 3 reveals whether or not the program has created a change in the learners’ behavior. Level 4 indicates if the program is effective in meeting the organizational goals

Table 4

Recommended features for mentorship programs

The mentorship program should be longitudinal throughout the medical education

Mentorship activities should be designed to align with the overall curriculum

The program should be mandatory

Mentors should be (experienced) physicians, either alone or in pairs, and may be accompanied by a student mentor

A small financial reward or promotion for mentors may reduce “wear and tear”

Mentors should be empowered by introductory courses, frequent mentor gatherings or workshops and faculty support

Language: English
Published on: Aug 20, 2020
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2020 Elise Pauline Skjevik, J. Donald Boudreau, Unni Ringberg, Edvin Schei, Terese Stenfors, Monika Kvernenes, Eirik H. Ofstad, published by Bohn Stafleu van Loghum
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.