Objective/ Background: The objective of this workshop is to share lessons learned from a pilot peer ambassador program (PAP) designed to support medical students rotating in their OB/GYN clerkship at a safety-net teaching hospital. The peer ambassador is a MS4 applying into OB/GYN who provides site-specific mentorship to junior students throughout their rotation. This additional layer of support aims to improve students’ experience on a fast-paced clerkship to foster interest in OB/GYN and combat negative perceptions about the field.
Methods: The program was implemented at one of UCLA’s OB/GYN clerkship sites. The peer ambassador is an MS4 applying into OB/GYN who completed both a clerkship and sub-internship at the site. She serves as a volunteer peer mentor for 2-4 students per rotation. The mentor reaches out to students via email at the beginning of the rotation to introduce herself and her role. She also provides a powerpoint document with general advice and helpful information about the site/clerkship. She remains available via a group text message chat to answer students\' questions and provide support throughout the rotation. She also works closely with the site director to meet students’ needs.
Results: Preliminary feedback was obtained via student debriefs with the clerkship director as well as informal conversations with the peer ambassador. Feedback was positive, with students citing the powerpoint presentation and curated study resources as particularly helpful. The peer ambassador was able to provide day-to-day advice on how to succeed on the clerkship and help students with questions that they may not want to bother residents/attendings with.
Conclusion/ Discussion: Peer mentorship between medical students can be a powerful tool for improving the OB/GYN clerkship experience. Having a peer mentor can facilitate the transition to clinical clerkships and ease anxiety surrounding starting a new rotation at a new hospital. Serving as a peer mentor also allows senior medical students to gain valuable leadership skills that will translate to residency. In the future, we hope to use peer mentorship as a way to provide targeted support to URM students and promote equity in medical education.
Topics: Faculty Development Seminar, 2024, Faculty, Clerkship Director,
Elizabeth Wang, MPH; Aparna Sridhar, MD; Samantha Nadella, MD
