Students’ views of mentoring at Bahria University Medical and Dental College

Abstract

Objective:To explore the mentoring program on a subset of Pakistani medical students in a private medical college.Method:Total students targeted were 300 MBBS students of 1st Year (group B), 2nd Year (group C) and 3rd Year (group D), of these 256 students filled the self-reported questionnaire. The questionnaire was based on Likert Scale. The statements in the questionnaire are designed in a positive manner so that if the students agree to them the level of satisfaction with the mentoring program was considered significantly good. Open-ended questionnaires were also given so as to have a clearer concept of the students’ perception. This study is a mixed method study catering to both quantitative and qualitative domains.Results :The overall results reported that the junior students of group B and group C showed higher satisfaction in being mentored as compared group D (p-value=0.001). All three groups were compared with each other to check the response of every statement by applying Tukey’s test. Analysis of the result showed that majority of the students considered mentoring program a beneficial tool for their academic and non-academic lives. The students of all three years have reported that the mentor is mostly available and helps to reconcile internal conflicts. They also confirmed that their mentor keeps records but most of the students have reported that communication via email is limited.Conclusion:Majority of students of Bahria University Medical and Dental College are able to carry on with their academic and non-academic routine due to the presence of mentoring. The medical students appreciated the presence of a mentor during thick and thin; they have also accepted that it is due to the presence of this guide that they are able to continue with their difficult studies in these difficult times.

Mentoring Clinical-Year Medical Students: Factors Contributing to Effective Mentoring

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6]8 Much anecdotal evidence and a small number of published studies demonstrate the positive effects of mentoring on communication, education, role modeling, and career advising. [3][4][5][6]8 Although previous surveys have indicated that 90% to 96% of medical students rated mentoring as important or very important, only onethird to one-half of students reported having actual faculty members as mentors. 2,5,6 Mentoring or counseling medical students is recognized as a basic requirement for medical school accreditation in national and international standards.…”

Assessing mentoring: A scoping review of mentoring assessment tools in internal medicine between 1990 and 2019

“…Five studies evaluated mentee's and/or mentor's understanding and expectations of the mentoring process [86,[89][90][91][92]. Eight studies assessed the mentee's mentoring needs to guide recruitment of mentees and mentors decisions and/or guide the mentoring process [83,86,[92][93][94][95][96][97]. Five studies evaluated the mentee's and the mentor's preferred approach to mentoring to see if there was concordance in their preferences [78,80,84,85,96].…”

“…One study evaluated the impact of the mentoring environment upon a "healthy student faculty interaction" [95]. Six studies assessed the challenges faced during mentoring relationship [82,86,88,[97][98][99].…”

“…Mentee's development. 15 studies evaluated the mentee's personal growth by inquiring about their "personal wellbeing", "development of personality" and "self-perception of their own abilities" [2,81,87,92,97,[99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108]. 13 studies assessed career development, by evaluating the mentor's influence as "career guides" and the "impact of faculty relationship on career plans" [2,8,36,79,92,[99][100][101][108][109][110][111][112].…”

Online mentoring of medical students during COVID-19 pandemic: Another new normal

“…One of the major advantages of online mentoring is that it focuses more on the needs of the mentee as compared to conventional forms of mentoring. 8 Furthermore, it is economically feasible and allows for a longer term mentor-mentee relationship to develop. As a result, Bahria University Medical and Dental College launched its online mentoring program to facilitate and counsel its students through the various changes that came about with the outbreak of COVID-19.…”