Elsevier

Academic Radiology

Volume 20, Issue 9, September 2013, Pages 1177-1182
Academic Radiology

Medical Student Education
Students Teaching Students: Evaluation of a “Near-Peer” Teaching Experience

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2013.04.004Get rights and content

Rationale and Objectives

Teaching is an important skill. Academic physicians teach on a daily basis, and nearly all physicians occasionally teach colleagues and patients. There are generally few opportunities for medical students to learn teaching skills. We developed a novel “near-peer” teaching program in which fourth-year students cotaught first-year students.

Materials and Methods

Eighteen fourth-year students enrolled in our institution's primary senior radiology elective learned the basics of ultrasound through a series of lectures and hands-on scanning sessions. Each fourth-year student, paired with a radiology resident or attending, then cotaught a first-year anatomy small group session. After instruction, voluntary surveys were administered to assess the perceived value of the “near-peer” teaching experience.

Results

Seventeen of 18 (94%) and 104 of 120 (87%) administered surveys were returned by fourth- and first-year students, respectively. Sixteen (94%) and 99 (95%) of the fourth- and first-year students reported they “enjoyed” or “really enjoyed” the near-peer teaching experience. Fourteen (82%) of the fourth years perceived improvement in their teaching skills and an increase in their knowledge. Only 8 (47%) of the fourth years thought they were “helpful” or “very helpful,” though 92 (88%) of the first years identified their fourth-year co-instructors as “helpful” or “very helpful.”

Conclusions

We piloted a novel “near-peer” program. Both senior and freshman students enjoyed the experience, and fourth years thought the session was educational for them as well. Although most fourth years did not judge themselves as helpful, first-year students overwhelmingly considered them a useful addition to the session.

Section snippets

“Near-Peer” Teaching: Preparing the Fourth-Year Students

Eighteen fourth-year (senior) medical students enrolled in the main senior radiology elective participated in this pilot near-peer teaching program. Of the 18, one indicated an intention to enter radiology; the remainder planned to enter a variety of fields, as is common for our elective.

The elective runs repeatedly over the course of the year; however, a single elective month was selected for this pilot. Along with the standard elective lectures and activities, students received 2 hours of

Results

Seventeen of the 18 fourth-year students and 104 of 119 first-year students completed the surveys (94% and 87% response rate, respectively). The participating faculty included two senior assistant professors and one junior associate professor from interventional radiology, abdominal imaging, and thoracic imaging sections. Radiology residents included three postgraduate year 3 and three postgraduate year 4 level residents, approximately half of whom had an interest in interventional radiology.

Discussion

We developed a novel “near-peer” teaching experience that was well received by senior and junior students alike. The program included all of the fourth-year students enrolled in our senior radiology elective. After receiving a training program in ultrasound, developed almost exclusively with their learning needs in mind, the fourth-year students co-instructed a hands-on small group session for first-year students. The goal of the near-peer session was appropriately basic and was targeted to a

Conclusion

We developed a novel program of fourth-year medical students co-instructing first-year medical students in a radiology-focused, hands-on teaching session. This “near-peer” teaching was universally liked. The more junior students (the learners) found the senior students to be quite helpful and knowledgeable as co-instructors. The senior students (the teachers) found the sessions helped develop their teaching skills and solidify their knowledge of the topic. Senior students would likely benefit

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    Supported by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging/UCSF Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators Minagi Rotating Education Chair Award.

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