An extensive mentoring program for undergraduate medical students: goals, design and realization

• Published in: Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift Vol. 164; no. 11-12; p. 213
• Main Authors: Hofhansl, Angelika, Körmöczi, Günther F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: German
• Published: Austria 01.06.2014
• Subjects: Academic Medical Centers; Adult; Attitude of Health Personnel; Austria; Career Choice; Curriculum; Education, Medical, Undergraduate - organization & administration; Faculty, Medical; Female; Goals; Humans; Interprofessional Relations; Male; Mentors; Pilot Projects; Program Evaluation; Sex Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Austria
• ISSN: 1563-258X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10354-014-0286-9

In this paper, the design and implementation of an institutional mentoring program for undergraduate medical students at the Medical University of Vienna are presented. Faculty members act as senior mentors in a small group setting enabling also peer mentoring (73.6% of mentees reporting a direct benefit from their co-mentees). Program acceptance by mentees and mentors is very high (71.7% of the mentees and 77.1% of the mentors giving the highest out of four rating categories). The adequacy of this program was studied by analyzing the topics discussed in the mentoring groups: the most frequently covered aspects are diploma thesis, clinical clerkship, studying abroad and career planning. Additionally, sex-specific distributions of mentor recruitment and selection as well as participation by students were documented (e.g., female proportion of 29.9% and 53.2% of mentors and mentees, respectively). Both feedback and content analysis demonstrate the success of this large-scale project.