Mentoring Practices in Medical Education

Mentoring in medical education encompasses a spectrum of structured and informal relationships designed to support the personal, professional and academic growth of learners and early-career practitioners. Models range from traditional one-to-one dyadic mentorship, in which a senior clinician or academic guides a junior protégé, to near-peer schemes led by slightly more advanced trainees. Programmes may be faculty-led or peer-facilitated, delivered face-to-face or via virtual platforms, and often combine career counselling, research exposure, clinical skills coaching and psychosocial support. Evidence indicates that well-designed mentoring enhances knowledge acquisition, professional identity formation and resilience, while reducing stress during critical transitions. Mentors benefit through the development of leadership and teaching competencies, increased job satisfaction and scholarly productivity. Common challenges include variability in mentor expertise, time constraints, unclear expectations and lack of formal training. Recent emphasis has shifted towards the standardisation of mentor training, integration of diversity and equity principles, and rigorous evaluation of outcomes to inform scalable, sustainable frameworks across local and global contexts.

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Mentoring Practices in Medical Education publication trend

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Technical terms

Dyadic mentoring: A traditional one-to-one relationship between an experienced mentor and a less experienced mentee aimed at personalised guidance and support.

Near-peer mentoring: A form of mentoring in which individuals who are only one or two stages ahead in training serve as mentors, leveraging close experiential proximity to address transition challenges.

Mentor training programme: A structured curriculum designed to equip prospective mentors with the skills, frameworks and tools necessary to deliver effective, evidence-based mentoring.

References

1. A systematic review of the literature describing the outcomes of near-peer mentoring programs for first year medical students. BMC Medical Education (2018).
2. Mentoring programs for medical students - a review of the PubMed literature 2000 - 2008. BMC Medical Education (2010).
3. Benefits of Mentoring in Oncology Education for Mentors and Mentees: Pre-Post Interventional Study of the British Oncology Network for Undergraduate Societies' National Oncology Mentorship Scheme. JMIR Medical Education (2023).