150 - A Descriptive Evaluation of the Association of Academic Physiatrists Big Buddy Program: A National Peer Mentorship Initiative for Medical Students in Physiatry

Friday, February 23, 2024

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM EDT

Presenting Author(s)

ML

Matthew J. Lee, BA

Medical Student
Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine
Nutley, New Jersey, United States
SS

Sahil Shah, BA

Medical Student
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
North Brunswick, New Jersey, United States
Daniel Persson, MBA (he/him/his)

OMS-IV
Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
Centerville, Ohio, United States

Co-Author(s)

Daniel Daneshvar, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor
Harvard Medical School
Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States

Objectives: Peer mentorship has been shown to improve the professional and personal development of medical students, including specialty decision-making, stress reduction, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Recognizing this impact, the Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) Medical Student Council initiated the Big Buddy Program in 2022, a national mentorship program that pairs medical students interested in physiatry with senior student mentors. This study descriptively evaluates the Big Buddy Program one year following its implementation.

Design: Through the program's de-identified registration database, the following was extracted: total enrollment, number of matches, number of mentees and mentors, mentor-to-mentee ratio, class year at registration (first-year to fourth-year), percentage of MD, DO, and international student enrollees, preferred frequency of mentor communication, and ranked importance of mentorship qualities. Descriptive statistics were utilized to portray the program's demographics and overall progress.

Results: 443 students enrolled in the Big Buddy Program from 6/1/2022-10/19/2023. First-year students represented 15.6%, second-years accounted for 27.1%, third-years comprised 28.9%, fourth-years made up 26.2% and MD/DO-PhD students were 1.8%. Regarding educational background, 53.7% were MD students, 34.8% were DO students, and 11.5% were international students. The program matched 161 students as Big Buddies with 282 Little Buddies, resulting in a mentor-to-mentee ratio of 1:2. For desired mentor communication, 42.7% of mentees wished to communicate every month, 33.5% several times a month, 13.2% every other month, and 9.7% every week. When ranking mentorship qualities, 'PM&R Interests' emerged as the most important for 25.4% of the participants, followed by 'Career Goals' and 'Research.'

Conclusions: This program evaluation of the Big Buddy Program has provided insights into its significant growth and the immense value and need for peer medical student mentorship in physiatry. Next steps will include sending surveys to participants to gain their perspectives, feedback, and suggestions.