ArticleBMJ open2023
Experience of enhanced near-peer support for new medical graduates of an Irish university: a phenomenological study.
Article in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Transition to Residency at Large University Teaching Hospital in Egypt: A Qualitative Study of Surgical and Emergency Medicine Residents.Journal of graduate medical education · 2026Article
- Demystifying Surgical Training in the UK: A Trainee-Led Global Teaching Initiative for Surgical Career Aspirants.Cureus · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
contextFactors contributing to the stressful transition from student to doctor include issues with preparedness for practice, adjusting to new status and responsibility, and variable support. Existing transitional interventions provide inconsistent participation, responsibility and legitimacy in the clinical environment. Enhanced support by near peers for new doctors may ease the transition. Irish medical graduates of 2020 commenced work early, creating an unprecedented period of overlap between new graduates and the cohort 1 year ahead.
objectiveTo explore the experience of commencing practice for these new doctors with this increased near-peer support.
designWe used interpretive phenomenological analysis as our methodological approach, informed by the cognitive apprenticeship model, to explore the experience of enhanced near-peer support at the transition to practice. Participants recorded audio diaries from their commencement of work, and a semistructured interview was conducted with each, after 3 months, concerning their experience of their overlap with the previous year's interns.
settingUniversity College Cork, one of six medical schools in Ireland.
participantsNine newly qualified medical doctors.
main outcome measuresAn exploration of their experience of transition to clinical practice, in the context of this enhanced near-peer support, will inform strategies to ease the transition from student to doctor.
resultsParticipants felt reassured by having a near-peer in the same role and safe to seek their support. This empowered them to gradually assume increasing responsibility and to challenge themselves to further their learning. Participants perceived that commencing work before the annual change-over of other grades of doctor-in-training enhanced their professional identities and improved patient safety.
conclusionsEnhanced near-peer support for new doctors offers a potential solution to the stressful transition to practice. Participants were legitimate members of the community of practice, with the status and responsibility of first-year doctors. Furthermore, this study reinforces the benefit of asynchronous job change-over for doctors-in-training.
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Registered trials
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