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)

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.

An Evaluation of Peer Teaching Across the Curriculum: Student Perspectives

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Near Peer Group training on ‘How to be a Foundation doctor’ Course

“…The idea was to have small numbers of students rotating though different teaching sessions, giving them an opportunity to experience several aspects of life as a foundation doctor. The emphasis was also on near-peer teaching whenever possible, with the potential advantage of receiving guidance from a junior doctor who had only recently passed their final exams but has the experience of being a qualified doctor, and a number of previous studies and observations have supported this notion (Rodriques et al 2009;Rashid et al 2011). …”

Perceived teaching quality between near-peer and academic tutors in an osteopathic practical skills class

“…1 The lack of experience has also been reported to be a key reason for resistance to the introduction of near-peer programs. 34 Another reason may be that neither a peer or near-peer tutor is a content expert or experienced educator. 1,4 Whilst there are challenges, the educational theories and current research suggests that the benefits to implementing near-peer teaching outweigh these challenges.…”