key: cord-0958762-y93srvbi
authors: Badawy, Layla; Oza, Priyanka; Shankarghatta, Rohan; Merlini, Elisa
title: Social network dynamics throughout clinical training—Distance matters
date: 2020-12-08
journal: Med Educ
DOI: 10.1111/medu.14421
sha: 3ab7284216da35949789edfd67248bd274b6ab20
doc_id: 958762
cord_uid: y93srvbi

Editor - social network changes constitute a pivotal influence on both academic success and emotional well-being for medical students throughout the various stages of training. Medical students particularly benefit from social support derived from healthcare professionals, fellow students, and mentors during the demanding transition to clinical training1 . Atherley et al., in fact, have suggested that students adapt to the introduction of clinical clerkship by deliberately modulating relationships based on whether they provide instrumental or emotional support2 .

Editor-Social network changes constitute a pivotal influence on both academic success and emotional well-being for medical students throughout the various stages of training. Medical students particularly benefit from social support derived from healthcare professionals, fellow students, and mentors during the demanding transition to clinical training. 1 Atherley et al, in fact, have suggested that students adapt to the introduction of clinical clerkship by deliberately modulating relationships based on whether they provide instrumental or emotional support. 2 Their findings lead us to reflect on the need to consciously enable such network evolution for certain subgroups of students given the potential for socioeconomic variables to restrict adaptation and, hence, negatively impact academic success.

Increasing financial strain on families has driven a rise in students, particularly those from under-represented minority backgrounds, choosing to commute to university from their family home. We believe these findings make it imperative that medical training programmes should aim to better integrate commuting students when they transition to clinical clerkship. This would increase the likelihood that they will become better doctors through the provision of supports other students are able to find more naturally. As the COVID-19 pandemic has driven a surge in virtual teaching for all, we believe these considerations are becoming increasingly relevant as a further decrease in in-person interaction with clinical mentors may widen any pre-existing inequality in social network dynamics amongst medical trainees. 

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