scholarly journals PsychStart: a novel mentoring scheme for supporting and valuing medical students interested in psychiatry

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Thomas Hewson ◽  
Nikki Thomas ◽  
Kate Lovett ◽  
Helen Bruce ◽  
Derek K. Tracy

Summary We describe the establishment and evaluation of a career-based mentoring scheme (PsychStart) for medical students interested in psychiatry. Medical students reported multiple benefits of mentoring, including enhanced personal and professional development, increased career and clinical knowledge, and broadened exposure to psychiatry. The mentoring scheme was also found to promote and sustain interest in the specialty. Further evaluation is required to determine the long-term effects of mentoring and how this may compare with other undergraduate enrichment activities. We conclude that mentoring in psychiatry could offer innovative solutions for improving recruitment and retention, and for supporting and valuing medical students who demonstrate an early interest in the specialty.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. e0210947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Gaupp ◽  
Julia Dinius ◽  
Ivana Drazic ◽  
Mirjam Körner

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (s4) ◽  
pp. 19-19
Author(s):  
Zahide Çavdar ◽  
Duygu Harmancı ◽  
Ayşe Koçak ◽  
Cemre Ural

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikio Hayashi ◽  
Daisuke Son ◽  
Keiko Nanishi ◽  
Masato Eto

Abstract Background: Globalization has given medical university students the opportunity to pursue international electives in other countries, enhancing the long-term socialization of medical professionals. This study examined the relationship between international electives for medical students and professional identity formation to identify the long-term effects of such electives.Methods: In all, 23 medical professionals (mean age 36.4 years; range 33–42 years), graduated from the University of Tokyo, participated in this study, and had completed their international electives for medical students more than 10 years before. The study employed a narrative inquiry approach based on a constructivist paradigm. Qualitative data were collected from 23 face-to-face, semi-structured in-depth interviews with each participant and 16 narrative reflective reports on international electives for medical students based on ethical permission. The thematic analysis involved generative coding and theorization, with the data being analyzed and interpreted by several researchers.Results: During the interviews, 36 themes related to medical professional socialization were identified, and from these, a theoretical framework was developed comprising six primary socialization factors (i.e., perspective transformation, career-design, self-development, diversity of values, contribution to others, and leadership). It was concluded that international electives for medical students could promote reflective self-relativization and contribute to medical professional identity formation. Additionally, such electives can encourage pursuing a specialization and academic or non-academic work abroad. International electives for medical students could contribute to medical professional identity formation on the basis the idea of cross-cultural understanding.Conclusions: This study addressed a number of issues regarding the long-term impact of international elective experiences in various countries on the socialization of Japanese medical professionals. It was found that these experiences gave medical professionals an opportunity to advance their professional identity formation and reflect on their developing identities. Furthermore, such electives provided opportunities of gaining cross-cultural understanding on their professional identity formation. This study thus offers some guidance to mentors conducting international electives for medical students and provides useful information for professional identity formation development in medical professionals.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (31) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sif Stewart-Ferrer ◽  
Anders Juul Rasmussen

The University of Southern Denmark has introduced a mandatory course in Narrative Medicine into the curriculum of undergraduate medical students. It is part of a trajectory called ‘Human First’, which aims to improve the students’ empathic abilities by teaching them narrative competencies to draw on in their future clinical encounters as medical doctors. Although, theoretical accounts seem to make a strong case for the utility and value of educational interventions, such as courses in narrative medicine or medical humanities, there has been a lack of empirical studies providing evidence to support such accounts – especially those focusing on the long-term effects and impact on patient care. Our systematic literature search and review of empirical studies regarding the effects of teaching close reading of fictional texts and creative writing to medical and health care students, tentatively confirmed previous indications of positive effects. Larger, multi-site and more rigorous studies that assess the long-term impacts of these educational interventions and adjust for local variations are, however, still in short supply. Finally, we present critical reflections on whether empathy and similar phenomena are at all measurable and discuss the possibility of meaningfully evaluating the utility of curricular interventions such as narrative medicine courses.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. e039944
Author(s):  
Mikio Hayashi ◽  
Daisuke Son ◽  
Keiko Nanishi ◽  
Masato Eto

ObjectivesGlobalisation has given medical university students the opportunity to pursue international electives in other countries, enhancing the long-term socialisation of medical professionals. This study identified the long-term effects of international electives on the professional identity formation of medical students.DesignThis is a qualitative study.SettingThe authors interviewed Japanese medical professionals who had completed their international electives more than 10 years ago, and analysed and interpreted the data using a social constructivism paradigm.ParticipantsA total of 23 medical professionals (mean age 36.4 years; range 33–42 years) participated in face-to-face, semistructured in-depth interviews.ResultsDuring the data analysis, 36 themes related to professional identity formation were identified, and the resulting themes had five primary factors (perspective transformation, career design, self-development, diversity of values and leadership). It was concluded that international electives for medical students could promote reflective self-relativisation and contribute to medical professional identity formation. Additionally, such electives can encourage pursuing a specialisation and academic or non-academic work abroad. International electives for medical students could contribute to medical professional identity formation on the basis of cross-cultural understanding.ConclusionsThis study addressed a number of issues regarding the long-term impact of international elective experiences in various countries on the professional identity formation of Japanese medical professionals. This study offers some guidance to mentors conducting international electives and provides useful information for professional identity formation development in medical professionals.


Author(s):  
Aureliusz Kosendiak ◽  
Magdalena Król ◽  
Milena Ściskalska ◽  
Marta Kepinska

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has significantly limited social contacts, thus contributing to deepening isolation. Therefore, SARS-CoV-2 exerted on humanity not only a physical impact but also a psychological one, often increasing the feeling of stress. The long-term effects of such a state could include the management of depression, so our study aimed to analyze groups of medical students in different periods of the pandemic (at the beginning of the pandemic, after half a year of the pandemic, after one year of the pandemic) in order to assess the impact of this situation on coping with stress. The impact of the pandemic on the development of stress factors such as alcohol consumption and smoking was also studied. The level of physical activity in the context of coping with an uncertain situation was also assessed. The impact of the above-mentioned factors on the behavior of students, including the Mini-COPE questionnaire, AUDIT test, the Fagerström test and the IPAQ questionnaire was analyzed. It has been shown that as the pandemic and the lockdown progressed, patients consumed more often or larger amounts of alcohol, smoked more cigarettes, and levels of physical activity decreased. All these factors may have had some impact on the deterioration of coping with stress among the respondents, which would indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly contributed to an increase in the sense of stress among the students.


2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 509-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Mihai ◽  
A. Ströhle ◽  
N. Maric ◽  
A. Heinz ◽  
H. Helmchen ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundGrowing professional exchange between Eastern and Western European countries increases the possibilities for international postgraduate training courses and by that satisfying the need for rapid and facilitation of travel and migration in the enlarged European Union increase achieving high standards. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a summer school program that trained young Eastern European psychiatrists and to assess the impact of the program on their professional development and future activities.MethodWe evaluated the training effect of the first 3 years of the Berlin Summer School with respect to (1) the participants' satisfaction with the topics, quality and originality of the presentations, and (2) long-term effects and implications for their professional career. All participants (N = 43) filled out anonymously the evaluation form at the end of each summer school. An evaluation of long-term effects was carried out 2 years later with a questionnaire that was sent via e-mail to all former participants.ResultsParticipants were most satisfied with practical topics such as “how to prepare a paper”, “how to evaluate a paper”, or “how to participate in a congress.” The appreciation of the presented topics and the appreciation of courses increased in each consecutive summer school. All summer school participants reported that the course had some influence on their future career, and one fifth of the participants felt that their professional development was influenced “a lot”.ConclusionsAlthough limited to 1 week of intensive training, a summer school program can have a longer lasting positive influence on the professional development of the participants. Participants felt that particularly the training of practical skills improved their research performance. Former participants founded an independent multicentric and multinational research group and supported national courses that were organized similar to the Berlin Summer School.


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