Implementation of a pilot medical student mentoring program for premedical students and its effects on premedical student attitudes

Abstract

As the medical school admissions process becomes increasingly competitive, there is an increased mental and emotional burden on undergraduate premedical students due to uncertainty about acceptance. Mentors in Medicine is a mentoring program between Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Texas Tech University students; the data demonstrate that this program can alleviate some negative emotional aspects faced by premedical students on their journey to medical school. The program interventions include establishing mentor-mentee relationships between medical students and premedical students, hosting various events to encourage dialogue, and promoting communication efforts from medical mentors. These interventions were found to significantly decrease feelings of anxiety or nervousness, as well as feelings of doubt or insecurity. These results may provide a framework for similar medical-premedical mentoring programs at other institutions.

Keywords:

• College students
• medical education
• medical students
• mentoring
• premedical education

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank Jeremy Moon, Theo Pham, Meredith Gavin, Kristie Benejan, Bella Kalayilparampil, Peytom Bluhm, Sunyukta Bihari, Vignesh Nair, Jared Covell, Nathan Hallier, Vicki Jeng, Layan Al-Sukhni, and Samir Sherali for serving as officers of Mentors in Medicine. They also thank the Texas Tech University Pre-Professional Health Careers Office, Texas Tech University Health Occupations Students of America, and Texas Tech University Bernard Harris Premedical Society for disseminating Mentors in Medicine sign up information to undergraduate premedical students.