Insights on my future job: implementing near-peer shadowing program for operating room freshmen

BACKGROUND: As a main challenge in paramedical faculties of medical sciences, freshmen lose interest in their academic field of study and then job motivation. Lack of developed knowledge about their academic field and unfamiliarity with their future job’s tasks and roles contribute to freshmen’s job motivation loss. Various interventional programs have been implemented to improve students’ job motivation by familiarizing them with their future job’s duties and responsibilities. METHODS: This was one-group pretest-posttest design study in 2019–2020. Students grouped into pairs of a freshman (shadowee) with a senior (shadower) in a clinical setting during shadowing program. This program helps freshmen to comprehend and discover realities of their academic field and can help them change their perspectives regarding their future job’s duties and responsibilities. The shadowees’ main task was reflective observation on operating room events and interactions and to be active in the program, several tasks e.g., how to wear gloves, guns, and disinfect equipment were assigned to them exclusively under the supervision of senior students. The Hackman and Oldham’s Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) questionnaire and a novel Job Motivation Survey (JMS) questionnaire were distributed among participants. RESULTS: Fifty freshmen majoring in operating room participated in the shadowing program from November 2019 to January 2020. Before and after the program, they completed Hackman and Oldham’s job diagnostic survey and researcher-made job motivation survey questionnaires. Results were indicative of a significant difference in job diagnostic survey questionnaire score, where overall pre-test and post-test scores before and after the intervention were 57.78 (±9.78) and 68.58 (±5.02), respectively; the score difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Moreover, the overall pre-test and post-test scores of the job motivation survey questionnaire were 25.16 (± 9.75) and 39.80 (±5.18), respectively; this score difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Shadowing program improved freshmen’s realistic perception of their future job’s duties and responsibility, and hence enhancing their job motivation and job recognition. As future work, in various disciplines, further studies need to evaluate the impact of such interventional programs in providing early insights for freshmen as well as in providing guidance on their plans for education, and future job.