Near-Peer Teaching in Conjunction with Flipped Classroom to Teach First-Year Medical Students Basic Surgical Skills

Abstract

Background There is increasing evidence that students are completing medical school with insufficient surgical education. Near-peer tutoring and flipped classroom formatting may be used to enhance learning while simultaneously relieving faculty burden of teaching. Here, we qualitatively evaluate a 3-month course that integrates the use of near-peer teaching and flipped classroom formatting, with the goal of increasing first-year medical students’ self-perceived confidence in performing basic sutures and knot-ties as well as interest in surgery. Methods Twenty-one first-year medical students participated in a suturing and knot-tying course led by senior medical students. The course consisted of 2-h sessions held every 2 weeks for a total of five sessions. Students were sent publicly available videos prior to each session by which to learn the upcoming techniques and received live feedback from instructors during sessions. Questionnaires were completed pre-course and post-course. Results Compared to pre-course ratings, post-course ratings of self-perceived confidence to perform various knot-ties and sutures all increased significantly ( p < 0.05). All students stated that the course strengthened their desire to pursue a career in surgery. Student feedback of the course was overall positive. Conclusions Near-peer teaching can be used in conjunction with flipped classroom to increase first-year medical students’ self-perceived confidence in surgical suturing and knot-tying as well as interest in surgery. This curriculum may serve as an outline for student-led courses at other institutions.

Letter in Response to: Near-Peer Teaching in Conjunction with Flipped Classroom to Teach First-Year Medical Students Basic Surgical Skills

“…These styles of teaching can improve student confidence and learning performance, as shown in previous studies [2]. The novelty of the work by Lu et al [1] is the implementation of both teaching styles in conjunction from an early stage of the student's medical career. This has its merits as shown by Manning et al [3], who found that students who had early and prolonged opportunities to practice a procedural skill in controlled environments had great confidence in patient interactions.…”

“…Although both NPT and FC may prove to be useful tools in furthering BSS training, they cannot yet be used instead of surgeon-supported teaching completely. Lu et al [1] demonstrated these styles of learning from students who have previously attended the course and senior residents. Whilst this may be beneficial when teaching BSS, caution needs to be taken when implementing these results for more complex procedures, without expert faculty supervision.…”

“…As fifth and final year medical students, we read with great interest the study by Lu et al [1], regarding the incorporation of near-peer teaching (NPT) and flipped classroom (FC) formatting into basic surgical skills (BSS) teaching. Having spent countless hours practising surgical skills, we feel well-placed to comment on the potential advantages and disadvantages of these learning styles in surgical education.…”

“…As stated by the authors [1], the difficulty remains with availability of time for these expert faculty surgeons, as thus the involvement of peers and senior residents is beneficial. However, this requires an assessment of the instructors to ensure students are being taught to the correct standard, as well as an assessment of the students to ensure they fulfil the requirements for medical registration.…”

The Effectiveness of Reciprocal Peer Teaching in an EAP Class

“…A combination of peer teaching with flipped classroom could be considered in this case. In fact, recent research in other subjects has started experimenting with the combination of these two learning approaches, and the results have been positive (Chan et al, 2021;Meng et al, 2022;Lu et al, 2022).…”