gms | German Medical Science

Mentoring in academic medicine seems to be essential for success in personal and professional development of future medical doctors. For best outcomes it is crucial to take students’ and faculties’ needs into account. Thus, a requirements analysis was conducted for designing a uniquely tailored mentoring program. This study describes the process of development, implementation and continuous improvement of a differential mentoring program. A cross-sectional survey among all medical undergraduate students at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in 2007 (response rate 74%, n=1235) was carried out to explore students’ needs and preferences for a new type of individual counseling service. These data were supplemented by additional qualitative data (telephone interviews (n=149) and expert panels) and a mentoring pilot trial for a small sample of students (n=38). In total 66% (n=798) of students claimed interest in a mentoring program. Asked for possible challenges for a future counseling service in telephone interviews, awareness was most frequently mentioned (48%, n=25). Based on quantitative and qualitative data a differential mentoring program with personal mentoring for all medical students was designed. Furthermore, a systematic, iterative evaluation process based on Shewhart’s Plan-Do-Check-Act-cycle (PDCA-cycle) to guarantee continuous improvement of the mentoring program is described [1], [2], [3], [4].