| 2024 Core Educator Education Scholarship Retreat | Categories Abstract

Evaluating Mentor Connection Platform in Supporting Students with Diverse Identities

by Ria Kaddu ↓; Siale Teaupa, MPH ↓; Cody Orton ↓; Karishma Shah, MD, PhD ↓; Brittany Wonsor ↓; Tom Hurtado, PhD ↓ & Rawad Farhat, MD, MSPH ↓

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Mentor Connection platform at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine (SFESOM) in supporting students with diverse identities and identify strategies for improving mentorship in medical education.

Background: Mentorship provides critical support for medical students. Most mentorship programs fail to account for the diverse identities of their students, despite the connection between identity and retention of those underrepresented in medicine (URiM). The SFESOM developed a mentorship platform to support medical students in the relationship-building process that facilitates student-mentor connections based on identity, experience, and specialties. We developed a survey to understand the relationship between the identity of medical students and their experiences with the mentorship platform and to identify strategies for improving the mentor connection platform.

Methods: The survey comprises 3 sections: (1) mentorship experiences, (2) utilization of platform, and (3) relationships between student identities, and the use of the mentorship platform. Results: 227/530 responded, and ~60% felt that they had identified at least one or more mentors during their medical school experience. 78% identified as URiM. Early analysis suggests that Mentor Connection has both strengths and areas for improvement.

Conclusion: Stratifying data is vital for assessing the Mentor Connection Platform’s impact on students, particularly URiM individuals.

References

  1. Bhatnagar, V., Diaz, S., & Bucur, P. A. (2020). The Need for More Mentorship in Medical School. Cureus, 12(5), e7984. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.7984 
  2. Physician Mentorship: Why It’s Important, and How to Find and Sustain Relationships. https://resources.nejmcareercenter.org/article/physician-mentorship-why-its-important-and-how-to-find-and-sustain-relationships/ 
  3. Find a Mentor in Medicine. https://www.aafp.org/students-residents/medical-students/begin-your-medical-education/finding-a-mentor.html


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Evaluating Mentor Connection Platform in Supporting Students with Diverse Identities by Ria Kaddu, Siale Teaupa, MPH, Cody Orton, Karishma Shah, MD, PhD, Brittany Wonsor, Tom Hurtado, PhD & Rawad Farhat, MD, MSPH