Letters to the Editor
course. Revisions suggested included face-to-face interaction with the students, rather than relying completely on electronic communication. While this intensive use of resources did not prove to be an efficient method of achieving our goals, we continue to strategize to develop an information literacy program that will optimally utilize our medical librarians’ skills and challenge our students, effectively building skills that will serve them as life-long learners. Since the completion of the course we have transitioned to face-to-face educational time between students and librarians, which has been more positively received and will be assessed in future analyses. Suzanne M. Edmunds, MD, Patrick S. Reynolds, MD, C. Randall Clinch, DO, MS, David Stewart, MSLS, Nicholas M. Pajewski, PhD, & Rebecca H. Neiberg, MS, Departments of Anesthesiology, Neurology, Family and Community Medicine, Carpenter Medical Library, and Biostatistical Sciences, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Reference Boumarafi B. 2010. Electronic resources at the University of Sharjah medical library: an investigation of students’ information-seeking behavior. Med Ref Serv Q 29:349–362. Mi M. 2013. Renewed roles for librarians in problem-based learning in the medical curriculum. Med Ref Serv Q 30:269–282.
Overcoming barriers to undergraduate research: Potential usefulness of a facilitated peer mentoring programme?
research achievements also demonstrate interest in a specialty field and are the mandatory ingredient to success to gain competitive entries into post-graduate training programmes. However, frustratingly, studies have continued to show various barriers faced by undergraduate students in research. These include a lack of encouragement from seniors and teaching on writing skills (Griffin & Hindocha 2011). With the success demonstrated at a post-graduate level in this study, it would be most interesting to pilot a similar peer mentoring programme at an undergraduate level, a potential solution to these barriers. One can argue that Student Selected Components, which are established components in the curriculum of most medical schools, already represent ample opportunities for undergraduates to work as a mini ‘‘research group’’. However, members often have different expectations and levels of motivation. With a non-mandatory programme set up in a semi-official way, for example through student research societies, this gathers a group of enthusiastic individuals who share the common goal of achieving publication productivity. This is vital because undertaking projects represent significant extra-curricular time commitments. It is important to note that the success of such studentinitiated programme is still reliant on the support from the medical school, especially in recruiting senior faculty members to serve as mentors. Rather than adopting a facilitating role as described in the study by Mayer et al., the mentors working with undergraduate students should also bear responsibilities of educating students in paper writing skills and research methodology; skills that will continue to be invaluable in postgraduate careers. Emily Nga Wun Yeung, University of Edinburgh, 49 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh EH3 9GB, UK. E-mail: [email protected] Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest.
References Griffin MF, Hindocha S. 2011. Publication practices of medical students at British medical schools: Experience, attitudes and barriers to publish. Med Teach 33(1):e1–e8. Mayer AP, Blair JE, Ko MG, Patel SI, Files JA. 2014. Long-term follow-up of a facilitated peer mentoring program. Med Teach 36(3):260–266.
Dear Sir I read with great interest an article published in your journal titled ‘‘Long-term follow-up of a facilitated peer mentoring program’’ (Mayer et al. 2014). The article demonstrated the importance of the availability of a structured mentoring programme to augment academic productivity among clinicians. As an undergraduate medical student, this conclusion suggests to me a valuable strategy to engage medical students in academic research from an early stage in their careers. Evidence-Based Medicine is the trending paradigm in clinical medicine. Awareness of current research trends is now a compulsory quality in medical practitioners that enables them to provide optimal patient care. Perhaps in blunter terms,
Left to their own devices: Medical learners’ use of mobile technologies
Dear Sir This letter is in connection with the article published in the February 2014 issue of Medical Teacher (Ellaway et al. 2014). The article deals with an important and current theme and
737
Copyright of Medical Teacher is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
course. Revisions suggested included face-to-face interaction with the students, rather than relying completely on electronic communication. While this intensive use of resources did not prove to be an efficient method of achieving our goals, we continue to strategize to develop an information literacy program that will optimally utilize our medical librarians’ skills and challenge our students, effectively building skills that will serve them as life-long learners. Since the completion of the course we have transitioned to face-to-face educational time between students and librarians, which has been more positively received and will be assessed in future analyses. Suzanne M. Edmunds, MD, Patrick S. Reynolds, MD, C. Randall Clinch, DO, MS, David Stewart, MSLS, Nicholas M. Pajewski, PhD, & Rebecca H. Neiberg, MS, Departments of Anesthesiology, Neurology, Family and Community Medicine, Carpenter Medical Library, and Biostatistical Sciences, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Reference Boumarafi B. 2010. Electronic resources at the University of Sharjah medical library: an investigation of students’ information-seeking behavior. Med Ref Serv Q 29:349–362. Mi M. 2013. Renewed roles for librarians in problem-based learning in the medical curriculum. Med Ref Serv Q 30:269–282.
Overcoming barriers to undergraduate research: Potential usefulness of a facilitated peer mentoring programme?
research achievements also demonstrate interest in a specialty field and are the mandatory ingredient to success to gain competitive entries into post-graduate training programmes. However, frustratingly, studies have continued to show various barriers faced by undergraduate students in research. These include a lack of encouragement from seniors and teaching on writing skills (Griffin & Hindocha 2011). With the success demonstrated at a post-graduate level in this study, it would be most interesting to pilot a similar peer mentoring programme at an undergraduate level, a potential solution to these barriers. One can argue that Student Selected Components, which are established components in the curriculum of most medical schools, already represent ample opportunities for undergraduates to work as a mini ‘‘research group’’. However, members often have different expectations and levels of motivation. With a non-mandatory programme set up in a semi-official way, for example through student research societies, this gathers a group of enthusiastic individuals who share the common goal of achieving publication productivity. This is vital because undertaking projects represent significant extra-curricular time commitments. It is important to note that the success of such studentinitiated programme is still reliant on the support from the medical school, especially in recruiting senior faculty members to serve as mentors. Rather than adopting a facilitating role as described in the study by Mayer et al., the mentors working with undergraduate students should also bear responsibilities of educating students in paper writing skills and research methodology; skills that will continue to be invaluable in postgraduate careers. Emily Nga Wun Yeung, University of Edinburgh, 49 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh EH3 9GB, UK. E-mail: [email protected] Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest.
References Griffin MF, Hindocha S. 2011. Publication practices of medical students at British medical schools: Experience, attitudes and barriers to publish. Med Teach 33(1):e1–e8. Mayer AP, Blair JE, Ko MG, Patel SI, Files JA. 2014. Long-term follow-up of a facilitated peer mentoring program. Med Teach 36(3):260–266.
Dear Sir I read with great interest an article published in your journal titled ‘‘Long-term follow-up of a facilitated peer mentoring program’’ (Mayer et al. 2014). The article demonstrated the importance of the availability of a structured mentoring programme to augment academic productivity among clinicians. As an undergraduate medical student, this conclusion suggests to me a valuable strategy to engage medical students in academic research from an early stage in their careers. Evidence-Based Medicine is the trending paradigm in clinical medicine. Awareness of current research trends is now a compulsory quality in medical practitioners that enables them to provide optimal patient care. Perhaps in blunter terms,
Left to their own devices: Medical learners’ use of mobile technologies
Dear Sir This letter is in connection with the article published in the February 2014 issue of Medical Teacher (Ellaway et al. 2014). The article deals with an important and current theme and
737
Copyright of Medical Teacher is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
