How does peer teaching compare to faculty teaching? A systematic review and meta-analysis (.).

PURPOSE: In undergraduate medical education, peer-teaching has become an established and common method to enhance student learning. Evidence suggests that peer-teaching provides learning benefits for both learners and tutors. We aimed to describe the outcomes for medical students taught by peers through systematic review and meta-analysis of existing literature. METHODS: Seven databases were searched through 21 terms and their Boolean combinations. Studies reporting knowledge or skills outcomes of students taught by peers compared to those taught by faculty or qualified clinicians were included. Extracted data on students' knowledge and skills outcomes were synthesised through a random effects model meta-analysis. RESULTS: The search yielded 2292 studies. Five hundred and fifty-three duplicates and 1611 irrelevant articles were removed during title-screening. The abstracts of 128 papers were screened against the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Ten studies have been included in the review. Meta-analyses showed no significant difference in peer-teaching compared to faculty teaching for knowledge or skills outcomes, standardised mean differences were 0.07 (95% CI: -0.07, 0.21) and 0.11 (95% CI: -0.07, 1.29), respectively. CONCLUSION: Students taught by peers do not have significantly different outcomes to those taught by faculty. As the process of teaching helps to develop both tutor knowledge and teaching skills, peer-teaching should be supported.

Peer-teaching of evidence-based medicine.

BACKGROUND: Many medical schools teach the principles of evidence-based medicine (EBM) as part of their undergraduate curriculum. Medical students perceive that EBM is valuable to their undergraduate and postgraduate career. Students may experience barriers to applying EBM principles, especially when searching for evidence or identifying high-quality resources. CONTEXT: The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Evidence Search is a service that enables access to authoritative clinical and non-clinical evidence and best practice through a web-based portal. INNOVATION: Evidence-based medicine workshops were organised and delivered by fourth-year medical students, having first received training from NICE to become NICE student champions. The workshops covered the basic principles of EBM and focused on retrieving EBM resources for study through the NICE Evidence Search portal. The scheme was evaluated using a pre-workshop survey and an 8-12 week post-workshop survey. Self-reported confidence in searching for evidence-based resources increased from 29 per cent before the workshop to 87 per cent after the workshop. Only 1 per cent of students rated evidence-based resources as their first preference pre-workshop, compared with 31 per cent post-workshop. IMPLICATIONS: The results show that although many students were aware of evidence-based resources, they tended not to use them as their preferred resource. Despite appreciating the value of evidence-based resources, few students were confident in accessing and using such resources for pre-clinical study. A peer-taught workshop in EBM improved students' confidence with, and use of, evidence-based resources.