Peer Mentoring in Medical Residency Education: A Systematic Review

Overview

Journal Can Med Educ J

Specialty Medical Education

Date 2020 Dec 22

PMID 33349761

Citations 18

Authors

Helen Pethrick

Lorelli Nowell

Elizabeth Oddone Paolucci

Liza Lorenzetti

Michele Jacobsen

Tracey Clancy

Diane L Lorenzetti

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Medical residents may experience burnout during their training, and a lack of social support. This can impact their overall wellbeing and ability to master key professional competencies. We explored, in this study, the extent to which peer mentorship promotes psychosocial wellbeing and the development of professional competencies in medical residency education.

Methods: We searched six databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Academic Research Complete, ERIC, Education Research Complete) for studies on peer mentoring relationships in medical residency. We selected any study where authors reported on outcomes associated with peer mentoring relationships among medical residents. We applied no date, language, or study design limits to this review.

Results: We included nine studies in this systematic review. We found that medical residents received essential psychosocial supports from peers, and motivation to develop academic and career competencies. Medical residents in peer-mentoring relationships also reported increased overall satisfaction with their residency training programs.

Conclusions: Peer-mentoring relationships can enhance the development of key professional competencies and coping mechanisms in medical residency education. Further rigorous research is needed to examine the comparative benefits of informal and formal peer mentoring, and identify best practices with respect to effective design of peer-mentorship programs.

Citing Articles

Burnout in medical education: interventions from a co-creation process.

Boone A, Braeckman L, Michels N, Van den Broeck K, Kindermans H, Roex A BMC Med Educ. 2025; 25(1):230.

PMID: 39948521 PMC: 11823063. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-025-06833-4.

Perceptions of a faculty-trainee group mentorship program, the mentorship families program, in a residency training program: results from a cross-sectional survey.

Amonoo H, Funk M, Guo M, Meyer F, Wolfe E, Palamara K BMC Med Educ. 2024; 24(1):1430.

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Difficulties Faced by Residents and Clues for Solutions: A Qualitative Study.

Midik O, Demiroren M, Baykan Z Inquiry. 2024; 61:469580241271313.

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Regarding the Article Students' Perception of Peer-Students Mentoring Program "Big Sibling Mentoring Program" to Complement Faculty Mentoring of First-Year Medical Students in Saudi Arabia [Letter].

Asim N, Alberto I Adv Med Educ Pract. 2024; 15:993-994.

PMID: 39430214 PMC: 11490231. DOI: 10.2147/AMEP.S499333.

Improving struggling medical and nursing students' subjective vitality, school engagement and academic performance through a peer mentorship intervention programme: an intervention protocol.

Eleje G, Ikwuka D, Nwosu K, Eleje L, Sani N, Niyoyita J BMC Med Educ. 2024; 24(1):1144.

PMID: 39402543 PMC: 11476957. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-024-06137-z.

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