Development of an interdisciplinary pre-matriculation program designed to promote medical students’ self efficacy

Abstract

Background and objectives: A four-week interdisciplinary pre-matriculation program for Native American and rural medical students was created and its impact on students’ transition to medical school was assessed. The program extends the goals of many pre-matriculation programs by aiming to increase not only students’ understanding of basic science knowledge, but also to build student self-efficacy through practice with medical school curricular elements while developing their academic support networks. Design: A mixed method evaluation was used to determine whether the goals of the program were achieved (n = 22). Student knowledge gains and retention of the microbiology content were assessed using a microbiology concept inventory. Students participated in focus groups to identify the benefits of participating in the program as well as the key components of the program that benefitted the students. Results: Program participants showed retention of microbiology content and increased confidence about the overall medical school experience after participating in the summer program. Conclusions: By nurturing self-efficacy, participation in a pre-matriculation program supported medical students from Native American and rural backgrounds during their transition to medical school. Abbreviations: CAIMH: Center of American Indian and Minority Health; MCAT: Medical College Admission Test; PBL: Problem based learning; UM MSD: University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth

Alignment of roles of near-peer mentors for medical students underrepresented in medicine with medical education competencies: a qualitative study

“…Informal mentoring was emphasized including social opportunities and continuing support during the first year of medical school. Thus, a critical role of the NPMs was to provide engaged empathic support sensitive to the unique needs of the program participants; similar sentiments were emphasized previously from focus groups with the program participants [13].…”

“…As this study suggests, the notion of employing near-peer mentorship as a framework toward proficiency in the ACGME competencies places a compelling spin on the potential uses of NPMs. The positive outcomes for the mentees [13] and as shown here mentors, all of whom were from groups underrepresented in medicine, suggests double the impact. Even though direct patient care was absent from the program, we can still view the program experiences as a catalyst for development of physician professional competencies.…”

“…The Prematriculation program model presented here provided a structure that enabled NPMs to move through a process that nurtured skills needed for future mastery of professional competencies. As with a patient experiencing unfamiliar symptoms we previously discussed a number of uncertainties and anxieties experienced by incoming medical students, the mentees of the NPMs [13]. This qualitative research study revealed that, in response, the NPMs had moved through a process of assessing, formulating and implementing a course of action.…”

“…To support the transition of underrepresented students into medical school, the UM MSD Center of American Indian and Minority Health ran a Prematriculation program from 2013 to 2017 [13] for students that had successfully completed their undergraduate baccalaureate degrees and been accepted to medical school. The goal of the 4-week in-person course was to build the students’ self-efficacy and promote academic success.…”

“…Code tables were generated and the team consulted the literature to generate themes and explanatory models. NPM codes were cross-checked with codes previously identified from the program participants [13]. The transcripts were subsequently reviewed by the coding team to ensure that codes matched and accurately reflected the intent of the participants’ responses.…”