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Contents

What is the mentorship program?
What kinds of mentorship experiences can I expect?
Who can participate and what are the pre-requisites?
How long does the mentorship experience last?
How do I apply?
I have applied, now what?
When are matches made? When should I apply?
How likely am I to be matched with a family physician mentor?
If I am accepted, where will the mentorship be conducted?
I need to satisfy shadowing requirements for medical school; can I do that through this program?
Are there additional requirements once I am accepted into the mentorship program?
Other resources for physician mentoring/shadowing

What is the mentorship program?
The Washington Academy of Family Physicians (WAFP) Pre-Med Mentorship Program operates primarily as a referral service to pre-med students seeking to learn more about Family Medicine, by connecting qualified candidates to family physicians in communities throughout Washington State. The purpose of the program is to give pre-med students with a strong interest in pursuing a medical career exposure to the life and practice of a family physician by providing opportunities to meet with a physician one-on-one.

What kinds of mentorship experiences can I expect?
The program is flexible and designed to give the student and physician mentor the ability to customize the experience so that it meets the interests and needs of the student while enabling the mentor to volunteer for what is realistic in the context of his/her practice. The mentorship can be a phone conversation, a meeting for coffee or a meal, or a more comprehensive series of shadowing experiences. The point of the program is to facilitate one-on-one communications between a family physician and interested student.

Who can participate and what are the pre-requisites?
Undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students interested in a career in Family Medicine, who intend to enroll in medical school within the next 3 years, can apply to participate. Student should also have completed at least one year of laboratory science.

How long does the mentorship experience last?
The pre-med mentorship experience is a short-term opportunity for participants. The exact length of your experience will be determined between you and the physician you are matched with.

How do I apply?
Fill out the mentorship interest form online. Once your expression of interest is received by the WAFP, an application and instructions will be sent to you via email. All applicants must complete the following:

• Pre-Med Mentorship Application Form
• A letter of recommendation from the pre-med advisor or professor at your university. (Post-baccalaureate students may substitute with a letter from a current employer.)

Letters of Recommendation:

• A letter of recommendation is expected with every application and should be sent directly from the recommender or the school.
• The letter is expected to convey the sincerity of the applicant’s interest in medicine and their general work/study ethic as well as their demeanor/attitude.
• Ideally the letter of recommendation should be geared specifically toward the Pre-Med Mentorship program. A letter written in support of a student’s medical school application and held on file at the student’s university is acceptable IF it was written within the last 12 months.

I have applied, now what?
Mentorship applications are evaluated and matched on a quarterly basis (see schedule below). Once your application form and letter of recommendation are received, they will be held by the WAFP until the closing date for the quarter that you have applied for.  The applications will be qualified by WAFP staff, and successful applicants will be notified of their acceptance within a couple weeks of the closing date.

Approved student applications are grouped by geographical region, and an email request is sent to available mentors in the areas indicated on the applications. Matches are then made according to city/neighborhood request and as to when the completed student application was received. Please note that the matching process can take 2-4 weeks.

Once matched, the successful applicant’s contact information will be sent to the doctor, and the doctor will contact you. The scope and scheduling of your mentorship experience will be determined directly between you and your mentor.

Note on scheduling: we encourage you to take the initiative with scheduling your mentorship experience. Once you are matched and the physician provides you with general schedule availability, it is up to you to pursue and schedule exact days and times with the physician.

At the end of the quarter in which you participated, we will send you an evaluation form. This is an opportunity for you to provide feedback which helps us to improve and refine the program. It is our expectation that all participants complete this evaluation form.

When are matches made? When should I apply?
Mentorship applications are evaluated and matched on a quarterly basis (see schedule below). If you miss the deadline, even by one day, your application will be considered in the following quarter. An application without a letter of recommendation is considered incomplete and will not be considered for participation.

Since applications are matched once per quarter it is a good idea to plan ahead. Matches are made according to city/neighborhood request and as to when the completed student application was received. We do our best to match all approved applications within the quarter they applied for. However, we sometimes have more students than available physician mentors in a given area, and have had to occasionally bump an applicant or two at the bottom of the match order to the next quarter.

How likely am I to be matched with a family physician mentor?
Of the 140+ initial inquiries into the WAFP Pre-Med Mentorship Program last year, 36% of these students completed the application process. Of those that completed the process last year we were able to match 90% with a family physician.

If I am accepted, where will the mentorship be conducted?
When you apply to participate in the mentorship program, you are asked to list cities, geographic areas and/or neighborhoods you would prefer to have your mentorship experience conducted. We then contact WAFP member physicians in that area who have offered to be a mentor. Sometimes the mentorship will take place in the physician’s clinic or hospital, sometimes a mentor will meet with you for coffee or a meal in an alternate location.

I need to satisfy shadowing requirements for medical school; can I do that through this program?
Many of our volunteer family physician mentors are able to provide at least a few hours of job shadowing experience. The exact length of time and frequency will be dependent upon the practice environment and stated policies of the individual clinic or hospital.

Those family physicians that cannot provide shadowing at this time, can still offer a wealth of insight into the field of Family Medicine, and are a wonderful resource for your questions. Many of them may be willing to meet for coffee or a meal, or be available for mentoring on a longer-term basis via email/phone.

Some medical schools require that pre-med students receive at least 40 hours of shadowing experience before applying to the medical school. In most cases, achieving 40 hours of shadowing time within our Pre-Med Mentorship Program will not be possible. We would also note that admissions committees typically like to see that you have had a variety of shadowing experiences versus all 40 hours with one physician. We suggest that students who need to acquire 40+ hours of shadowing find additional shadowing opportunities elsewhere. A list of other resources for pre-med shadowing can be found here.

Are there additional requirements once I am accepted into the mentorship program?

• Please Dress Professionally! Especially if you want to see patients – we received reports of a couple of pre-med students being sent home because they showed up in unwashed or in inappropriate attire (can we say…AWKWARD). Hygiene is very important in a medical career, and you only get one chance to make a first impression. NO flip flops, open-toed shoes, or sleeveless shirts. And it should go without saying, but please be showered, shaved, and wearing deodorant.
• Document Your Hours. Any documentation of shadowing hours is the responsibility of the student. A sample documentation form will be provided when you are matched. You are also strongly encouraged to keep a journal of your experiences. This can be a great way to connect with your mentor, and the details you write down can be used for all those medical school applications later.
• Complete an exit survey/evaluation for WAFP. This is a simple questionnaire that can be completed in less than ten minutes.
• Compliance with health/privacy policies. In some cases, the clinic or hospital in which you will be shadowing may have some type of pre-requirements to comply with privacy and health laws. The physician and/or the clinic’s HR department will let you know of any specifics. Possible pre-requirements may include:
  • Completing confidentiality/HIPAA paperwork
  • Up to date on your vaccinations
  • TB Test
  • Check with the clinic administrator for any other shadowing requirements specific to the clinic.

We encourage to promptly complete whatever the physician/clinic requires so you can shadow. In the event that you are unwilling to sign forms required by the hospital/clinic or fail any other screening, you will not be permitted to participate in the program within that hospital/clinic.