P0691 - The Hidden Benefits: Medical Student Participation in Pathways Programs

Introduction: STEM-based pathway programs aim to increase underrepresented minority (URM) representation in healthcare. The successes of these programs are well established; they have been shown to foster URM interest in medicine, involve URM’s in research, and develop professional skills. A number of these programs have been implemented at medical schools, with medical students acting as mentors. These programs are uniquely positioned to provide tremendous value to URM students, yet research on the benefits of URM programs on medical student mentors is less abundant. Discerning what motivates medical students to participate in URM pathway programs can guide URM program design, which ultimately translates to a more significant learning experience for both the URM students and the medical student mentors.

Objective: The primary objective of this study is to determine the impact of significant contribution to a STEM-based URM pathways program on medical student mentors in a small Midwestern city.

Methods: A program survey was delivered electronically to medical students during the 2019-2020 academic year that have expressed interest in volunteering for STEM-based pathway programs. The survey included free-response and 1-to-10 scale questions. The pathway programs included aims to promote interest in healthcare for fourth-, eighth-, and tenth-grade URM students. Survey results were compared based upon the volunteer’s contribution to the pathway programs and the grade of the URM students that participated. The Institutional Review Board deemed this study to have exempt status.

Results: A total of 50 survey responses were received. Working with underserved communities, working with children, and gaining leadership experience were the three most common motivators for medical students to participate in a URM pathway program (Figure 1). Students with significant participation in a pathways program felt they had a greater impact on the URM students they were mentoring (p=0.021). They also described themselves as more of a leader than those with minimal participation (p = 0.026). The mentors with significant participation reported significantly greater confidence in teaching (p=0.015), simplifying medical terminology to future patients (p=0.014), and mentoring students (0.003). These results are summarized in Figure 2.

Discussion: We demonstrated how mentorship of URM students in pathway program positively affected the medical student volunteers. These findings highlight the importance of URM pathway programs in medical school education; in addition to being instrumental in promoting diversity in medicine, URM students greatly impact the medical students that work with them. The URM program participants allowed medical students to develop the non-clinical skills necessary to serve vulnerable patients: leadership, mentorship, community impact, and communication. Though pathway programs are appropriately tailored to provide URM students with the platform to pursue a career in science or healthcare, our study highlights the importance of URM pathway programs on medical students.