Mentoring Medical Students Towards Oncology: Results from a Pilot Multi-institutional Mentorship Programme

Kathrine S Rallis; Anna Wozniak; Sara Hui; Adam Stammer; Cigdem Cinar; Min Sun; Taylor Fulton-Ward; Alison A Clarke; Savvas Papagrigoriadis; Apostolos Papalois; Michail Ch Sideris

doi:10.1007/s13187-020-01919-7

Mentoring Medical Students Towards Oncology: Results from a Pilot Multi-institutional Mentorship Programme

J Cancer Educ. 2022 Aug;37(4):1053-1065. doi: 10.1007/s13187-020-01919-7. Epub 2020 Nov 26.

Authors

Kathrine S Rallis^{1

2}, Anna Wozniak^{3

4}, Sara Hui^{3

4}, Adam Stammer⁴, Cigdem Cinar⁵, Min Sun⁵, Taylor Fulton-Ward⁵, Alison A Clarke⁶, Savvas Papagrigoriadis⁷, Apostolos Papalois⁸, Michail Ch Sideris⁹

Affiliations

¹ Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. k.s.rallis@smd16.qmul.ac.uk.
² Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. k.s.rallis@smd16.qmul.ac.uk.
³ Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
⁴ Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
⁵ Birmingham Medical School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
⁶ Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine, King's College London, London, UK.
⁷ International Society for Pelvic Surgery, Athens, Greece.
⁸ Experimental Educational and Research Centre ELPEN, Athens, Greece.
⁹ Women's Health Research Unit, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.

Abstract

The mounting global cancer burden has generated an increasing demand for oncologists to join the workforce. Yet, students report limited oncology exposure in undergraduate medical curricula, while undergraduate oncology mentorships remain underutilised. We established an undergraduate oncology society-led mentorship programme aimed at medical students across several UK universities to increase medical student oncology exposure. We electronically recruited and paired oncologist mentors and medical student mentees and distributed a dedicated questionnaire (pre- and post-mentorship) to compare mentees' self-reported cancer specialty knowledge and oncology career motivation after undertaking a 6-week mentorship. We also determined students' interest across specialties and subspecialties and measured mentor availability via percentage programme uptake. Statistical analysis included univariate inferential tests on SPSS software. Twentynine (23.4%) of 124 oncology specialists agreed to become mentors. The mentorship was completed by 30 students across three medical schools: 16 (53.3%) Barts, 10 (33.3%) Birmingham, and 4 (13.3%) King's; 11 (36.7%) mentored by medical oncologists, 10 (33.3%) by clinical/radiation oncologists, and 9 (30%) by surgical oncologists. The mentorship generated a statically significant increase in students' knowledge of the multidisciplinary team and all oncology-related specialties including academia/research but not interest towards a career in oncology. Undergraduate oncology mentoring is an effective educational, networking and motivational tool for medical students. Student societies are a valuable asset in cultivating medical student oncology interest by connecting students to faculty and increasing mentor accessibility. Further research should focus on developing an optimal mentorship structure and evaluating long-term outcomes of such educational initiatives.

Keywords: Mentoring; Surveys and questionnaires; UK medical students; Undergraduate medical education; Undergraduate oncology society; Undergraduate oncology teaching.

MeSH terms

Humans
Medical Oncology
Mentoring*
Mentors
Schools, Medical
Students, Medical*