Peer assisted learning in UK medical schools

Peer assisted learning in

UK medical schools

Presented by Kevin Buell13th December 2016, Medical Educators conference

Co-authors: William Pitts, Matthew Edmondson, Ann ChuAffiliations: Imperial College School of Medicine

Background

Year 6 medical student at ICSM

Year Faculty Teaching ICSM teaching

1 Lectures, dissection,

PBL, small group

teaching

MedED revision lectures,

Muslim Medics pathology

revision lectures, Surgical

Society anatomy lectures.

2 Lectures, dissection,

PBL, smalll group

teaching

MedED revision lectures,

NeuroSoc crash course.

3 3 x 10 week clinical

placements

MedED OSCE buddy

system, Football Club

mock OSCE

4 BSc year Immunology society

5 Speciality clinical

rotations

MedED PACES buddy,

MedED & football mock

OSCE

Peer assisted learning (PAL)

People from similar social groupings who are not teachers, helping each

other to learn and learning themselves by teaching 1

Effective learning method for medical undergraduates 2

44% of USA medical schools have a university-led PAL programme 2

1.Topping KJ. The effectiveness of peer tutoring in further and higher education: A typology and review of the literature.

Higher education. 1996;32(3):321-45.2

2.Soriano RP, Blatt B, Coplit L, CichoskiKelly E, Kosowicz L, Newman L et al. Teaching medical students how to teach: a

national survey of students-as-teachers programs in US medical schools. Academic Medicine. 2010;85(11):1725-31.

PAL in the UK

Limited up to date data on this

» To what extent does it take place?

» Who organises it?

» Are faculty members aware of it?

» What factors determines the presence of absence of PAL in

universites?

» What is the impact of PAL?

» Is it a successful teaching method?

Aims

Primary aim

• Assess extent, type and organisation of PAL that takes place at UK

medical schools unsupervised and independent of the faculty body

Secondary aim

• Provide a detailed analysis and case report of PAL carried out at

Imperial College School of Medicine by students

Method: National Survey

Included all 31 UK medical schools

Devised an online questionnaire requesting the following

1. If student-led PAL was provided

2. If it was available to all students at the medical school

3. Through which entities PAL was organised

4. Type of knowledge PAL is utilised for; Pre-clinical, clinical or both

5. If PAL programmes included mock examinations

Email sent to President of Medical Student Union

Email sent to Secretary of Medical Student Union

Email sent to Academic Officer of Medical Student Union

Deemed non-responder

No response

No response

No response

Survey protocol

Method – Case Study

All 55 societies at ICSM contacted via internal email address.

• National survey protocol questions

• Membership (number of students in society)

• If society alumni were involved with PAL

• Category - Sports, charity, careers, education, arts, cultural/religious

Results – National Survey

Response rate of 68% (n=31)

All schools offered student-led PAL

90% report available to all students

81% organised pre-clinical and clinical PAL

81% supplemented PAL with mock examinations of which 10% used real

patients

‘Medical Education Society’ was the most frequent organizational platform

Results – National Survey

0"

10"

20"

30"

40"

50"

60"

70"

80"

90"

100"

Medical education

society

Friendship/peer

groups

Other Societies

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Results – Imperial College

Response rate of 82% (n=55)

64% of societies offered PAL

52% of these provided both pre-clinical and clinical

No statistical correlation between PAL and size of the society

78% held mock examinations, 6% used real patients.

Societies holding mock examinations were significantly larger in size than

those that did not (p<0.02, mean 105 vs 51 members)

Results – Imperial College

Category of society Presence of PAL(%)

17 careers 83

16 sports 50

5 art 80

4 charity 75

2 cultural/religious 100

1 medical education

society

100

Limitations

Low response rate on National Survey (68%)

Imperial College case study may not accurately represent all UK medical

schools

Assumption that Medical Student Union President filling out questionnaire is

aware of all PAL at his/her affiliated university

Further Work

Can PAL be formally included in undergraduate medical curriculum?

• How to monitor the quality?

• How to best utilise PAL?

• Will PAL remain amongst peers if integrated into the curriculum?

Does PAL improve examination performance?

Comparing PAL to traditional teaching methods?

Conclusions

PAL is fully integrated into the learning culture throughout the UK

Societies with a non-educational purpose frequently offer PAL

Providing structured mock examinations is dependent on larger society

size

Questions?

THANK YOU