BackgroundMedical degree students often express great satisfaction toward their mentoring experience and share the impression that it has contributed significantly to their personal and professional development. Mentoring can contribute to a more comprehensive and integral preparation of the student for professional life, promoting critical reflection, but studies are needed which focus on effectiveness in achieving educational objectives by means of an appropriate methodology.MethodsThis pilot study aims to evaluate the formative impact on students' attitudes towards suffering and death and their perception of the role of mentors in an innovative mentoring program for undergraduate students through a quasi-experimental design.Between October 2019 and March 2020, 2nd-year medical students were invited to participate in a mentoring program made up of 5 mentors, randomly assigned to each student by Microsoft Excel's randomization function. A validated and adapted scale was used to measure students' perception of their mentors (CECA Scale) and the mentoring program, while another two validated scales were used to measure attitudes toward suffering (Brief Humanising Scale) and death (Bugen Scale).ResultsOf the 109 students invited to participate (79% female and 21% male), 20 agreed to participate in the intervention group and 24 in the control group. CECA was scored with medians of 6 (the highest score). The Brief Humanising Scale returned no statistically significant differences between the groups. The Bugen Scale showed significant differences after intervention in 80% of the items directly related to the educational objectives. ConclusionsStudents' perception of mentors and mentoring has been optimal. Students' attitude toward suffering was not improved, although attitudes toward death were. Long-term, mixed studies are needed to obtain a higher degree of evidence.