Bridging the Gap from Classroom to Clerkship to Career: Informal Surgical Mentorship for Pre-Clerkship Medical Students

Introduction. Mentorship is important in medical education, yet its specific impact on pre-clerkship medical students interested in surgery remains underexplored. We hypothesized that a formal but unstructured surgical mentorship program would increase students’ interest in surgery and improve their self-perceived readiness for the third-year surgical clerkship. Methods. In this before–after study, pre-clerkship students at The University of Kansas School of Medicine were paired with volunteer surgical faculty mentors. An initial one-on-one meeting was required, while the frequency and structure of subsequent meetings were left to the participants. Surveys assessing student confidence and perceptions of the program were administered via Research Electronic Data Capture® (REDCap®) before the program and again six months later. Changes were analyzed using the Wilcoxon rank sum test for independent groups (p <0.05). Results. Of the 47 students enrolled, 31 (66.0%) completed the pre-program survey, and 24 (51.1%) of these completed the post-program survey. After six months, students reported significantly greater confidence in their preparation and knowledge for the third-year surgical clerkship, surgical skills, and understanding of surgical career pathways. More students also identified potential residency letter writers. However, 87.5% of respondents reported inconsistent mentor-mentee meetings. Conclusions. A formal yet unstructured surgical mentorship program significantly improved pre-clerkship students’ confidence in pursuing a surgical career and preparing for the surgical clerkship. Despite inconsistent meeting frequency, the program enabled meaningful mentorship without requiring rigid scheduling or extensive time commitments from participants.