Development and implementation of digital peer mentoring in small groups for first-year medical students

Mentoring has become an important educational strategy in medical training. Peer mentoring (PM) can enhance student experience and support transition to higher education. This article documents the implementation of an online peer mentoring program for first year medical students at a newly founded medical school in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic and its development into in-person PM.

We developed the program in close collaboration between students and teachers. Students were invited to apply as peer mentors via email; they received instructions and reflected on their role and experiences in meetings before, during and after the semester. One or more peer mentors were assigned randomly to a student group. We evaluated the program with an online survey inspired by the "Modified Mentorship Effectiveness Scale". After successful piloting PM was implemented into the core curriculum.

In 2020 we assigned 17 peer mentors to 14 groups of 6-7 students. Groups met 3 or more times via Zoom^®. Overall satisfaction was high. Both student groups reported benefits for their personal and professional identity formation. Atmosphere in online meetings was excellent. Most important topics were exams/learning strategies. In 2021 meetings were held in person. Overall satisfaction, perceived benefits and learning atmosphere were again rated very positively. Most students preferred many-to-many PM and random matching.

The implementation of PM was successful and beneficial for the participating students. PM can help first-year medical students reduce anxiety, improve self-organization and orientation at university. It fosters identity formation and has positive effects on peer mentees as well as on peer mentors.