Student mentors in pharmacy ethics

Graduate students have long been used, with mixed results, as teaching assistants in colleges of pharmacy. It is our view that upper level undergraduate students who have successfully completed a given course, who are sufficiently interested in the area of study, and, most importantly, who are interested in assisting a fellow student, can prove to be effective in this role. It was with this in mind that we began to use undergraduate student mentors in our required pharmacy ethics course. Our recently completed survey indicated that students felt that mentors should be used on a regular basis in pharmacy ethics and the availability of the services provided by the mentor facilitated their successful completion of the course. Moreover, the survey results suggest that the use of undergraduate student mentors-carefully selected, trained and supported-can be a valuable educational resource in pharmacy education, beyond simply their use in pharmacy ethics.