SOCIUS Mentoring-A Novel Course to Encourage Students for a Career as Surgical Oncologists.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Klapdor R
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9326547 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:ObjectiveFacing a shortage of young surgeons, this study aimed to examine the availability of mentoring programs and if this can counteract this lack.Summary background dataMedical mentoring programs have proven to be decisive to influence students' later career decisions. Since their structure may depend on the medical school and the effort of single disciplines, the offers are often very heterogeneous.MethodsAnonymous online-questionnaires were developed and distributed among medical students in Germany and the dean for teaching of the medical schools from July 2019 to January 2020 in Germany. Data of the availability of mentoring programs, their structure and the impact of surgery were collected.ResultsForty three medical schools participated, with 65% offering mentoring programs. 18 of medical schools had no additional funding available for this. Surgical subjects participated in these programs in only 30%. Additionally, 1,516 medical students participated in the second survey. A total of 70% had already participated in a mentoring program with a significantly higher proportion of men. Of these, 94% stated that this was helpful and had an impact on their career planning, without any gender differences. 95% would participate in structured surgical mentoring programs and 95% agreed that this could have an impact on their career planning.ConclusionMentoring programs may be able to influence career planning, nevertheless participation by surgical specialties has been low. Becoming more active in providing mentoring programs with a special focus on women and offering more surgical content can be a way to counteract the lack of surgical trainees.
| S-EPMC9726918 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A one-credit hour, elective, professional development course was created at North Carolina State University to introduce pre-veterinary track students to the admissions process and the breadth of the veterinary profession. The course was designed to facilitate career exploration while building self-efficacy through vicarious learning, interacting with speakers in various veterinary subfields, and addressing misperceptions about veterinary admissions. To evaluate the student learning objectives and improve upon the current practices of the course, data from two pretest and posttest course surveys for 235 course participants between Spring 2014 and 2017 were analyzed. The results of the study showed that students experienced significant gains in self-appraisal (Cohen's d ranged 1.88 to 2.53), gathering occupational information (Cohen's d ranged 1.59 to 2.53), goal selection (Cohen's d ranged 2.14 to 2.53), and planning and problem-solving (Cohen's d ranged 1.88 to 2.77) as well as experienced a decrease in five misperceptions about veterinary admissions. This novel course is presented as a prospective course for other universities.
| S-EPMC8495951 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundDespite many high-quality programs in basic surgical-skill education, the surgical skill of junior doctors varies widely. This, together with the waning interest in surgery as a career among medical students, is a serious issue confronted by hospitals and healthcare systems worldwide. We, therefore, developed and implemented an intensive one-day surgical-skill training course for two purposes; it would improve surgical skills and increase interest in surgery among medical students.MethodsThe surgical-skill training program is named Surgical Skill Weekend (SSW) and it includes hands-on training sessions for surgical-suturing techniques and advanced surgical procedures (i.e. laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgery), hybrid simulation sessions, and an operating-room session where aforementioned sessions are all put together. By the end of the program, students' improvements in surgical-suturing skills were assessed by experts in a form of checklist, and changes in the interest in a surgical career, if there were any, were answered by the students who participated in the program.ResultsA total of ninety-one (91) medical students participated in the 2015 and 2016 SSW courses. Their overall satisfaction level with the course was very high (Very satisfied: 78%, Quite satisfied: 22%). All of the participant's surgical-suturing skills significantly improved (median score range: 14-20, P < 0.05) and their interest in a surgical career increased significantly (from 56% to 81%, P < 0.05) by completing the program.ConclusionsAn intensive and comprehensive surgical-skill training program for medical students can not only improve surgical-suturing skills but also increase interest in surgery as a career.
| S-EPMC5745757 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThere is a lack of studies on metaverse-based career mentoring for college students in both quantitative and qualitative research. This study aimed to examine the effect of metaverse-based career mentoring among nursing students and explore the experiences of mentors and mentees.MethodsThis study used a mixed methods design using both a survey for collecting quantitative data and focus group interviews for a qualitative one. A total of 8 mentors and 43 mentees participated in the metaverse-based career mentoring program. The program covered eight career fields and was delivered across eight sessions of 60 min each, over six days. Career decision-making self-efficacy among mentees and platform and program satisfaction were measured before and after the program. Afterwards, 7 mentors and 12 mentees participated in the focus group interviews to investigate their experience of participating in the metaverse-based career mentoring program. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and Mann-Whitney U test. The qualitative data underwent thematic analysis.ResultsAfter the metaverse-based career mentoring program, mentees' career decision-making self-efficacy increased significantly compared to the baseline level. From the mentor-mentee focus group interviews, three key themes were derived: (i) communicating frankly and openly, (ii) being satisfied with realistic communication and program functions, and (iii) expecting an even more optimized program.ConclusionsA metaverse-based career mentoring program for nursing students can have a positive effect on their career decision-making self-efficacy. In addition, in terms of education, it is helpful as a non-face-to-face medium and feeling a sense of reality, so it is expected that it will be beneficial in education by applying various contents in the future.
| S-EPMC10183309 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundIn Australia, the profession of pharmacy has undergone many changes to adapt to the needs of the community. In recent years, concerns have been raised with evidence emerging of workforce saturation in traditional pharmacy practice sectors. It is not known how current final year pharmacy students' perceive the different pharmacy career paths in this changing environment. Hence investigating students' current experiences with their pharmacy course, interaction with the profession and developing an understanding of their career intentions would be an important step, as these students would make up a large proportion of future pharmacy workforce.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was thus to investigate final year students' career perspectives and the reasons for choosing pharmacy, satisfaction with this choice of pharmacy as a tertiary course and a possible future career, factors affecting satisfaction and intention of future career paths.MethodsA quantitative cross sectional survey of final year students from 3 Australian universities followed by a qualitative semi-structured interview of a convenience sample of final year students from the University of Sydney.Results'Interest in health and medicine' was the most important reason for choosing pharmacy (n=238). The majority of students were 'somewhat satisfied' with the choice of pharmacy (35.7%) as a course and possible future career. Positive associations were found between satisfaction and reasons for joining pharmacy such as 'felt pharmacy is a good profession' (p=0.003) while negative associations included 'joined pharmacy as a gateway to medicine or dentistry' (p=0.001). Quantitate and qualitative results showed the most frequent perception of community pharmacy was 'changing' while hospital and pharmaceutical industry was described as 'competitive' and 'research' respectively. The highest career intention was community followed by hospital pharmacy.ConclusionComplex factors including university experiences are involved in shaping students' satisfaction and perception of career. This may relate to challenges in the community pharmacy sector, job opportunities in hospital and limited understanding of the pharmaceutical industry. The results offer insight for the profession in terms of entry into various roles and also to pharmacy educators for their roles in shaping curricula and placement experiences that attract future graduates to defined career pathways in pharmacy.
| S-EPMC4100949 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionMentorship is essential for students considering a future in academic medicine. Mentoring is recognized as one of the most important factors in determining career success through enhancing trainees' goals and productivity. An effective mentoring relationship can drive trainees' goals to fruition by providing support so that opportunistic risk can be taken and failures can be reevaluated into learning experiences. Mentorship has such importance that it was deemed mandatory in education by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Moreover, mentoring can play a significant role in helping to diversify the academic medicine workforce.MethodsThis 60-minute workshop utilizes a didactic PowerPoint presentation and small-group role-play exercise to introduce participants to the importance of mentoring in the development of academic medicine careers and to provide instruction on establishing effective meetings with prospective mentors. Faculty facilitated the workshop at nine regional academic medicine conferences held across the country.ResultsEighty-seven diverse participants completed an evaluation form. In comparing pre- and postworkshop responses, there was a statistically significant increase in confidence to "Find a mentor for a career in academic medicine" (2.29 vs. 3.26, p < .001) and "Have a successful relationship with an academic medicine mentor" (2.52 vs. 3.38, p < .001). Moreover, more than 85% agreed or strongly agreed that the workshop's learning objectives were met.DiscussionTrainees from diverse backgrounds gained crucial insight into the importance of mentorship and techniques on how to establish and maintain mentors while pursuing an academic medicine career.
| S-EPMC6342371 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ImportanceFemale oncologists often spend their childbearing years in training and establishing careers, with many later experiencing fertility issues when starting a family. Physician fertility and family planning are rarely discussed during training. Attitudes among female oncologists regarding family planning are unknown.ObjectivesTo understand barriers to family planning as well as the association of fertility treatment with career decisions and to assess experiences of pregnancy-based discrimination among female oncologists.Design, setting, and participantsIn this survey study, a novel 39-item questionnaire was distributed to US female oncologists from May 7 to June 30, 2020, via email and social media channels. Questions regarding factors associated with family planning, maternity leave, and discrimination were included.Main outcomes and measuresThe distribution of survey responses was compared by oncology subspecialty. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to determine independent variables for discrimination experienced during maternity leave.ResultsResponses were collected from 1004 female oncologists. Most respondents (847 [84.4%]) were married, and 713 (71.0%) were currently working full-time. A total of 351 oncologists (35.0%) worked in radiation oncology, 344 (34.3%) in medical oncology, 186 (18.4%) in surgical oncology, and 91 (9.1%) in pediatric oncology. A total of 768 respondents (76.5%) had children, and of these, 415 (41.3%) first gave birth during postgraduate training, and 275 (27.4%) gave birth in years 1 to 5 as an attending physician. Almost all respondents (951 [94.7%]) stated that their career plans were at least somewhat associated with the timing of when to start a family. Having a supportive partner was the most commonly cited positive association with family planning (802 [79.9%]), while long work hours and heavy workload (669 [66.6%]) were the most common negative factors. One-third (318 [31.7%]) had miscarried, and 315 (31.4%) reported difficulty with infertility that required fertility counseling and/or treatment; 660 (65.7%) thought fertility preservation should be discussed with women during medical school and/or residency. One-third (312 [31.1%]) reported experiencing discrimination during pregnancy, and 332 (33.1%) stated they experienced discrimination for taking maternity leave. On multivariable logistic regression, having more than 1 child was associated with increased likelihood of experiencing discrimination during maternity leave (2 children: odds ratio, 1.62 [95% CI, 1.10-2.39]; P = .02; ≥3 children: odds ratio, 1.84 [95% CI, 1.14-2.95; P = .01).Conclusions and relevanceIn this survey study of female oncologists, 1 in 3 reported experiencing infertility and 1 in 3 stated they experienced discrimination during pregnancy and/or for taking maternity leave. Systemic changes are necessary to ensure women are supported and able to advance equitably in the field.
| S-EPMC9623435 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:In the last three decades there is a growing recognition in the dental profession that dental education must go beyond teaching the technicalities of dentistry and include professionalism and communication skills that the future dentist may need. Such skills are best taught in a student-centered way. Literature suggests that student-centered elements are difficult to introduce in traditional, teacher-centered curricula. This is especially true in post-communist countries where higher education was under strict state control for decades. The aim of the piece of research presented here was to investigate how difficult it is to introduce a student-centered career skills course in a traditionally teacher-centered dental curriculum. METHODS:Considering the needs of our final-year dental students and Super's model of career development, we created an undergraduate curricular career skills course running for two semesters in two languages (Hungarian and English). The primary aim of the course is to help students with their career expectations and develop their identity as a professional workforce. The secondary aim is to teach skills that students can use when applying for a job. At the end of the semesters, we assessed our students' satisfaction with various aspects of the course by using a questionnaire. Results were analyzed item-wise and according to the main aspects of the course (i.e., groups of items organized around a particular aspect). RESULTS:General satisfaction with the course was high, and practical skills training (such as CV and motivation letter writing) got the highest scores. From the answers it appears that the students were the least comfortable with having to deal with their personal values and preferences. CONCLUSIONS:While it is common for universities to offer various forms of career intervention, to our knowledge, no other university offers a curricular career skills course specifically for dental students. Our student-centered course designed in a problem-based learning framework worked even in a traditionally teacher-centered educational environment, where university students are rarely encouraged to be active participants in courses. By sharing our experience, we would like to encourage our fellow dental educators working in similar environments to devise and offer such courses.
| S-EPMC7059283 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Undergraduate research is a valuable experience that increases the likelihood of a STEM major to continue on to postgraduate training in their field. For students from groups underrepresented in the biomedical sciences, a strong mentoring relationship during this undergraduate period is a key component in preparing them for the next stage of their education and can have a significant influence on their ability to persist in the pipeline. Although the ideal scenario to increase the diversity of the biomedical workforce is to provide more BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) faculty mentors for our undergraduates, we also need to develop strategies to provide strong mentoring experiences for our BIPOC students when those mentors are not in great number. At Xavier University of Louisiana, we have used our NIH BUILD Project Pathways program to look more closely at the mentor matching process. Throughout the past seven years, we have moved from the traditional mentor, research-focused matching process to a student-centered process. The lessons learned here can be used by any University looking to craft an inclusive undergraduate research program to meet the needs of all students, but in particular a diverse student population.
| S-EPMC9456019 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We describe the establishment and evaluation of a career-based mentoring scheme (PsychStart) for medical students interested in psychiatry. Medical students reported multiple benefits of mentoring, including enhanced personal and professional development, increased career and clinical knowledge, and broadened exposure to psychiatry. The mentoring scheme was also found to promote and sustain interest in the specialty. Further evaluation is required to determine the long-term effects of mentoring and how this may compare with other undergraduate enrichment activities. We conclude that mentoring in psychiatry could offer innovative solutions for improving recruitment and retention, and for supporting and valuing medical students who demonstrate an early interest in the specialty.
| S-EPMC8727381 | biostudies-literature