A near-peer teaching program designed, developed and delivered exclusively by recent medical graduates for final year medical students sitting the final objective structured clinical examination (OSCE)

Mustafa S Rashid,Oluwaseun Sobowale,David Gore

doi:10.1186/1472-6920-11-11

Abstract

BackgroundThe General Medical Council states that teaching doctors and students is important for the care of patients. Our aim was to deliver a structured teaching program to final year medical students, evaluate the efficacy of teaching given by junior doctors and review the pertinent literature.MethodsWe developed a revision package for final year medical students sitting the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). The package was created and delivered exclusively by recent medical graduates and consisted of lectures and small group seminars covering the core areas of medicine and surgery, with a focus on specific OSCE station examples. Students were asked to complete a feedback questionnaire during and immediately after the program.ResultsOne hundred and eighteen completed feedback questionnaires were analysed. All participants stated that the content covered was relevant to their revision. 73.2% stated that junior doctors delivered teaching that is comparable to that of consultant - led teaching. 97.9% stated the revision course had a positive influence on their learning.ConclusionsOur study showed that recent medical graduates are able to create and deliver a structured, formal revision program and provide a unique perspective to exam preparation that was very well received by our student cohort. The role of junior doctors teaching medical students in a formal structured environment is very valuable and should be encouraged.

Highlights

The General Medical Council states that teaching doctors and students is important for the care of patients
We have demonstrated findings in keeping with the current research that teaching delivered by near-peer tutors was very well received by medical students
Students found that recent medical graduates provided a unique perspective to Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) preparation

Summary

Introduction

The General Medical Council states that teaching doctors and students is important for the care of patients. Peer and near-peer learning are rapidly expanding areas of educational research across many disciplines [1,2]. Medicine is no exception and there are several descriptions of peer teaching in the medical literature [3] This is perhaps not surprising considering the emphasis that is placed on teaching by the General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK and the international medical community [4,5]. In medical literature the peer-assisted learning model has demonstrated benefits in many areas of medical teaching from socio-cultural diversity training to ultrasound image interpretation [7,8]. A key principle and benefit of peerassisted learning is that peers can help other peers learn, consolidate and improve their knowledge in the process [7,9]

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