Mentorship in Medical Residency Education: Anatomy of a Systematic Review

Abstract

Medical residents are students enrolled in postgraduate specialization training in hospitals or clinics. They can experience stress and burnout, particularly during their first year of training. Researchers have demonstrated that peers in higher education settings can provide one another with emotional, motivational, and psychological supports necessary to achieve learning outcomes and career goals. Our research team conducted a systematic review of the published literature on peer mentorship in medical residency education to identify how peers enhance learning among medical residents. We found evidence that both informal and formal peer mentorship increased medical residents’ well-being and advanced the development of career competencies. In this case study, we describe best practices for organizing, conducting, and reporting systematic reviews; discuss how these were implemented in the context of our review; and outline some of our team’s key learnings.

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