Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jun 4;22(1):431.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-022-03507-3.

Does peer teaching improve academic results and competencies during medical school? A mixed methods study

Marijke Avonts  1 , Nele R Michels  2   3 , Katrien Bombeke  2 , Niel Hens  4   5   6 , Samuel Coenen  3   4   5 , Olivier M Vanderveken  2   7 , Benedicte Y De Winter  2   8
Affiliations
Review

Does peer teaching improve academic results and competencies during medical school? A mixed methods study

Marijke Avonts et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: This study investigates the impact of Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) in clinical skills on peer teachers' academic scores and competencies; however, controversy remains on this topic, and concrete evidence on its impact lacking.

Methods: We performed a mixed methods study combining a retrospective cohort study with a modified Delphi survey. Peer teachers and Skills Lab faculty members participated in this study. A validated questionnaire, the CanMEDS Competency Based Inventory (CCBI), and group interviews were used to assess the outcomes of PAL. Our results were also triangulated with literature data.

Results: In 3 consecutive cohorts of medical students (n = 311), 78 participated in PAL. Peer teachers obtained higher scores from the start of the study, at different timepoints in medical school, and on their final scores compared to all other students. Interestingly their progress followed the same path and magnitude as other well-performing students. However, based on our findings from a modified Delphi survey (CCBI interviews) and a literature review, we found further supporting evidence for a positive impact of PAL on the competencies of physical skills (medical expert), teamwork and leadership (collaborator), lifelong learning (scholar), and for admitting uncertainty/limits (professional) within the CanMEDS roles.

Conclusions: We conclude that higher achieving students are more likely to volunteer for a peer tutoring program; however this does not significantly augment their academic scores as compared to above well-performing non-teaching fellow students. Importantly, our modified Delphi survey indicated which CanMEDS roles were positively impacted by PAL: medical expert, collaborator, scholar and professional.

Keywords: CanMEDS; Clinical skills; Competencies; Peer assisted learning; Peer teaching.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

MA, NM, KB, OVV and BDW are all lecturers involved in the Skills Lab. All authors declare no further competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Timeline of the 7 year medical curriculum at University of Antwerp. Ba: Bachelor; Ma: Master; OSCE: Objective Structured Clinical Examination
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Mean scores for clinical line for 1st year until 6th year of medical school. Peer teachers are denoted in green and other students in red. Peer teachers’ scores were significantly higher in Year 3, Year 5 and Year 6
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Venn diagram of competencies obtained by peer teaching based on the literature, the student- (peer teacher) and faculty member CCBI-survey and interviews. CanMEDS roles: ME = medical expert, CM = communicator, CL = collaborator, LR = leader, HE = health advocate, S = scholar, P = professional
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Busari JO, Scherpbier AJ. Why residents should teach: a literature review. J Postgrad Med. 2004;50(3):205–210. - PubMed
    1. Dandavino M, Snell L, Wiseman J. Why medical students should learn how to teach. Med Teach. 2007;29(6):558–565. doi: 10.1080/01421590701477449. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Herrmann-Werner A, Gramer R, Erschens R, Nikendei C, Wosnik A, Griewatz J, et al. Peer-assisted learning (PAL) in undergraduate medical education: an overview. Zeitschrift fur Evidenz, Fortbildung und Qualitat im Gesundheitswesen. 2017;121:74–81. doi: 10.1016/j.zefq.2017.01.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bene KL, Bergus G. When learners become teachers: a review of peer teaching in medical student education. Fam Med. 2014;46(10):783–787. - PubMed
    1. Yu TC, Wilson NC, Singh PP, Lemanu DP, Hawken SJ, Hill AG. Medical students-as-teachers: a systematic review of peer-assisted teaching during medical school. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2011;2:157–172. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources