This document describes different approaches to mentorship programs in emergency medicine. It discusses a near-peer mentorship program that pairs fourth-year medical students with emergency medicine residents to provide guidance on residency. It also describes a tiered mentorship model at Ohio State University involving faculty, residents, and students of various levels. This model forms small mixed-gender groups with one faculty mentor and one resident mentor. An evaluation found that students were not influenced by the gender makeup of their group and preferred identifying with faculty mentors regardless of gender. The document introduces challenges with assigning mentors and managing group sizes and dynamics.

1. Mentorship in Emergency Medicine:
From Near-Peers to Tiers
Dr. Sarah Ronan-Bentle, MD
Dr. Robbie Paulsen, MD
Dr. Nicholas Kman, MD
@drnickkman

2. Mentorship in Emergency Medicine:
From Near-Peers to Tiers
Resident and Faculty Panel:
Dr. Laura Espy Bell
Dr. Matthew Stull
With Dr. Robbie Paulsen

3. Objectives
 Describe the formation, organization, structure
and function of group mentorship programs.
 Describe 2 such programs who approach this
model in slightly different forms.
 Introduce the role of gender in medical student
mentoring (one institutions experience).
 Divulge challenges and limitations to group
mentorship programs.

4. Background
 Mentorship is a reciprocal relationship between
an advanced career incumbent (mentor) and a
beginner (mentee).
 A mentor should empower and encourage the
mentee, role model, build a professional
network, and assist in mentee's personal
development.
 A mentee should set agendas, follow through,
accept criticism, and be able to assess
performance and benefits derived from
relationship.
Frei et al., Mentoring programs for medical students – a review of the PubMed literature 2000 -
2008 BMC Medical Education 2010,10:32.

5. Background
 Mentorship is intended to promote professional
development and career advancement.
 Up to 40% of medical students cannot identify a
mentor.
 One of the barriers of the mentorship
relationship, “finding a suitable mentor”, can be
solved by starting a mentorship program.

6. Mentorship Models
 Classic one-to-one mentoring between
mentor and mentee.
 Group mentoring: Small group of mentees
supervised by a mentor
 The Multiple-Mentor Experience Model:
Individual or group mentoring with a number
of mentors
 Peer mentoring and mentoring among co-
equals.
6
B. Buddeberg-Fischer & K.-D. Herta. Formal mentoring programmes for
medical students and doctors – a review of the Medline literature. Medical
Teacher, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2006, pp. 248–257.

7. Medical Student Mentorship
 2 Reviews showed 9-14 published mentoring
programs for medical students and 7 for
doctors.
 Programs pursued different goals and
employed different structures.
 % of women among the mentors is given in
only one of the programs.
 Conclude that career development should be
stage-specific and goal-oriented.
7
Frei et al., Mentoring programs for medical students – a review of the PubMed literature 2000 -
2008 BMC Medical Education 2010,10:32.

8. Gender In Mentorship: Background
 Approximately 50% of U.S. medical students are
now female, yet gender inequality exists in many
medical specialties
 Studies have indicated that one of the primary
barriers to the advancement of women in
medicine is lack of effective mentors.
 Female trainees are less likely to identify a
mentor and mentorship programs for women are
rare.
8
Welch JL, Jimenez HL, Walthall J, and Allen SE(2012) The
Women in Emergency Medicine Mentoring Program: An
Innovative Approach to Mentoring. Journal of Graduate Medical
Education: September 2012, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 362-366.

9. Group Mentorship
 Can we bridge the gap between medical students
and resident?
 Can we improve mentorship of all genders?
 Does assigning a mentor really work?
9

11. Faculty
Residents Students

12. Compared to faculty-student pairs, a near-peer
mentoring program should:
 Be more casual
 Provide a real glimpse into resident life
 Improve skills as a mentor and mentee for both
parties
Near-Peer Mentorship

13. Near-Peer Program Aims
Primary
 Provide a realistic
understanding of EM
residency
 Guide fourth-year
students through the
residency match
Secondary
 Augment emergency
medicine residents’
skills as effective
mentors

14. Curricular Design
Resident Mentors
 Volunteer Recruitment
 PGY 2 – PGY 4
Eligible
 E-Mail Orientation
 Resident Initiated

15. Curricular Design
Student Mentees
 July – October
 Home & Away
Rotators
 “Opt Out” Participation

16. Curricular Design
 Expectations
 At least one face-
to-face meeting
during clinical
rotation
 Continued regular
contact
 Mentorship
Guidance
 Follow-up e-mails
with mentoring tips
 Application
deadline reminders

17. Program Impact
Student Mentees
 Casual and open
relationship
 Decreased anxiety
 High personal
satisfaction
Resident Mentors
 Enhanced mentoring
skills
 Insights on receiving
future mentorship

18. Advanced Topics in Emergency Medicine
Kman, NE., et al. “Advanced topics in emergency medicine: curriculum development and initial
evaluation.” Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, v. 12 issue 4, 2011, p. 543-50.

19. Grants and Programming

20. Grants and Programming

21. The OSU Tiered Mentorship Model
 Each tiered group consists of at least one faculty
member, one resident, one ATEM student, and
one or more junior level medical students (MS1-
3) interested in EM.
 11 to 13 total groups.
 Students paired with mentors based on EM
interest or pre-existing relationship.
Kman NE, Bernard AB, Khandelwal S, Nagel RW, Martin DR. A
Tiered Mentorship Program Improves Number of Students With
an Identified Mentor. Teaching and Learning in Medicine. Vol. 25,
Iss. 4, 2013.

22. The OSU Tiered Mentorship Model
 Introductory meeting at EMIG: Introductory
questionnaire sent out immediately after to begin
roster of groups.
 1st Small Group Meeting: Introductions,
importance of mentorship and academic goals.
 2nd Small Group Meeting: Lifestyle, hours and
social aspects of their occupation.
 EMIG/ATEM Panel Discussion: ATEM students
reflect on experience with the Match.

23. Clinical Requirement
 EMIG has a shadowing system set up where
student can shadow EM faculty member.
 Students do one shadowing shift with their
faculty mentor and one with their resident
mentor.

24. The OSU Tiered Mentorship Program
24
“I have a mentor from the Department of Emergency
Medicine (EM)”

25. Gender in Mentorship Study
• 12 groups were formed in 2012-2013.
• 3 of the 12 groups were comprised solely of females
• 2 of the groups were male exclusive.
• The remaining, mixed gender groups were
formed based on common interest and included
both males and females.
25

26. 26
•Majority
disagreed with
statement that the
gender
distribution of
their group
contributed to
their experience.
“The gender distribution of my
group contributed to my
experience”
Group Composition
The OSU Tiered Mentorship Program

27. 27
• Majority (86.4%)
disagreed that they
preferred faculty
mentor of their
gender.
• Majority disagreed
that they preferred a
group composed of
single gender.
“I would prefer to be part of a group
composed of only members of my
gender”
Group Composition
The OSU Tiered Mentorship Program

28. Gender in Mentorship Conclusions
 Tiered-mentorship group structure allows
students to identify a faculty member mentor,
the gender of mentor and gender make-up of the
group is less important.
 The primary role of gender was not perceived to
be of value to students.
 Our findings led to the establishment of all
mixed gender groups for this academic year.
28

29. Pitfalls and Questions for the Panel
 Assigning Mentors
 Group Size
 Authority Gradient
 Does gender matter?
29

30. References
 Kman NE, Bernard AB, Khandelwal S, Nagel RW, Martin
DR. A Tiered Mentorship Program Improves Number of
Students With an Identified Mentor. Teaching and
Learning in Medicine. Vol. 25, Iss. 4, 2013.
 Reisman AB, Gross CP. “Gender differences in the ability
to identify a mentor at morning report: a multi-institutional
survey.” Teach Learn Med. 2002 Fall; 14(4):236-9.
 Welch JL, Jimenez HL, Walthall J, and Allen SE(2012)
The Women in Emergency Medicine Mentoring Program:
An Innovative Approach to Mentoring. Journal of
Graduate Medical Education: September 2012, Vol. 4,
No. 3, pp. 362-366.
30

31. References
 Medical School Based Mentoring Programs. AAMC 2010.
 Frei et al. Mentoring programs for medical students – a
review of the PubMed literature 2000 – 2008. BMC
Medical Education 2010, 10:32.
 B. Buddeberg-Fischer & K.-D. Herta. Formal mentoring
programmes for medical students and doctors – a review
of the Medline literature. Medical Teacher, Vol. 28, No. 3,
2006, pp. 248–257.
31

32. Mentorship in Emergency Medicine:
From Near-Peers to Tiers
Resident and Faculty Panel:
Dr. Laura Espy Bell
Dr. Matthew Stull
With Dr. Robbie Paulsen