Background
The Mentor Clinician Program (MCP) at UC San Diego, founded in 2016, aims to transform how we train future physicians by delivering individualized mentorship and coaching to medical students from experienced Mentor Clinicians (MCs), with an emphasis on clinical skill development and empathic/compassionate care.
Over the years the landscape of medical education has evolved in part due to novel pressures on teaching faculty and new medical training system requirements (i.e. RVUs, EMR, EPAs). This has led to less continuity of faculty and learner and less time to teach. It can therefore be difficult for medical students to get directed, individualized clinical teaching and longitudinal feedback throughout their clinical clerkships.
How do we train the next generation of physicians to provide quality, empathic, and compassionate care to our patients and foster faculty productivity in an academic environment?
Mentor Clinician Program Goals
Improve clinical training and mentorship for medical students on their core third-year clerkship by:
- Establishing a good learning environment for medical students
- Increasing direct observation of medical students’ clinical skills
- Improving medical students’ presentation skills, clinical reasoning skills and physical examination skills
- Increasing formative (non-evaluative) feedback to medical students
- Aiding in the development of compassionate, empathetic and self-aware physicians
- Providing longitudinal mentorship for medical students
How Mentorship Changes Everything
Listen to UC San Diego School of Medicine students and faculty share how mentorship, facilitated by the Center for Mentorship in Medicine, has elevated learning, professional development, and well-being.
Program Overview
Mentor Clinician Program Makes Headlines
In the fast-paced world of medical education, where the learning process can feel akin to drinking from a firehose, one program has quietly transformed how tomorrow’s physicians learn, grow and connect with their patients: the Mentor Clinician Program.
MCP Impact
Connection
Students value being longitudinally paired with an MC who provides individualized, iterative feedback in a non-evaluative role.
Development
Students feel the MCP improves their history and physical, differential diagnosis, presentation, and clinical reasoning skills.
Communication
Students feel the MCP improves their communication skills and ability to provide compassionate and empathic care to patients.
Satisfaction
Students report increased satisfaction with the overall educational experience with the clerkship, including teaching from non-MC faculty.
Want to learn more?
Download our infographic for a high-level overview of the program, its results to date, and how you can bring this unique, foundational mentorship/coaching curricula to your institution.
