Medical Students as Teachers: A Student-Led Course in Developing Teaching Skills.

Students as Teachers is a 7-month student-led elective that equips first- and second-year medical students with teaching skills. Pre- and post-course surveys measured participants' knowledge and confidence level in the course's learning objectives such as creating lesson plans, engaging learners, and assessing understanding. Eleven students participated in the course and 10 students completed the pre- and post-course surveys. Upon completion of the course, there was a statistically significant increase in students' self-reported competencies. This series of workshops thus improved learners' confidence with teaching skills and helped identify how they could improve as physician educators.

A Comprehensive Students-as-Teachers Program: Developing and Empowering Future Medical Educators.

We describe the development of two formats of a Students as Teachers (SaT) program that was designed to train fourth-year medical students as near-peer teachers in the pre-clinical classroom. This program has served 191 students since its inception in 2017 through a 2-week credit bearing elective or an evening workshop series. We describe key elements of the courses and positive outcomes of our program within a learning communities' framework. We present these data for other institutions interested in creating their own SaT program.

Students as Teachers: Development and Implementation of a Workplace-Based Assessment.

Students as Teachers programs are prevalent, though assessments within these programs are lacking. A workplace-based assessment for clinical teaching was developed to foster formative feedback and support learner growth. Feedback narratives were analyzed to identify student teaching behaviors and demonstrated the themes medical knowledge, professionalism, communication, and teaching skills, which were subcategorized as clinical relevance, learner stage appropriateness, use of evidence-based teaching strategies, learning environment, feedback-related, and time-appropriate. This analysis supports the use of the assessment form for student teachers in the clinical environment as students received construct-relevant feedback from various raters while teaching in multiple settings.

A different approach to teaching pre-clerkship students physical diagnosis: standardized patient instructor-senior medical student teaching teams.

BACKGROUND: Faculty have traditionally taught the physical examination (PE) to novice medical students (pre-clerkship students.), despite recruiting and cost issues and problems standardizing their approach. ACTIVITY: We present a model using standardized patient instructor (SPI)-fourth year medical student (MS4) teams to teach PE to pre-clerkship students, leveraging the benefits of co-teaching and peer-assisted learning. RESULTS: Surveys of pre-clerkship students, MS4s and SPIs indicate positive perceptions of the program, including MS4s reporting significant growth in their professional identities as educators. Pre-clerkship students' performance on the spring clinical skills exams was equivalent to or better than their peer performance pre-program implementation. IMPLICATIONS: SPI-MS4 teams can effectively teach novice students the mechanics and clinical context of the beginners' physical exam.

PHArmacy Students as Educators (PHASE): Implementation and evaluation of an educator's curriculum for pharmacy students.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Designed to address the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada's competency "teach pharmacy team members, the public, and other health care professionals," the PHArmacy Students as Educators (PHASE) program was developed by the institute's entry-to-practice doctor of pharmacy program. The program's objective was to support students in developing the necessary skills to fulfill their role as pharmacist-educators. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: We performed a two-year pilot (2017-2019) of the PHASE program which consists of a large-group didactic session followed by an academic half-day (AHD) session. Evaluation was conducted using Likert-scale and qualitative student survey data collected pre- and post-sessions to determine: (1) how the PHASE program supported students as future educators, and (2) students' perceptions and experiences related to teaching and learning. FINDINGS: All students in the 2020 and 2021 graduating cohorts were included in the study following consent. We determined that while respondents agreed to the statement, "A role of a pharmacist includes being an educator" (93.7% and 98.2% for 2020 and 2021 cohorts) at baseline, the proportion of strongly agree responses increased following the didactic session (P < .005). Of note, average Likert-score for respondents' confidence in educating increased following the AHD session (P < .001). Qualitative analysis identified an increase in students' self-rated ability for determining learners' needs, developing and conducting educational sessions, and confidence related to educating others. SUMMARY: Overall, the PHASE program showed positive impact during the first two years of implementation and lessons learned from the pilot are discussed.

Role Modeling in Medical Education: A Twenty-First Century Learner's Perspective.

Traditional role modeling is a complex process of observation and emulation delivered by experienced senior physicians with an unknown outcome. Role modeling through organized modalities has been utilized as an educational tool in medical school for years. However, effects of parenting, near peers, gender, race, and social media on role modeling in medical education have not been well characterized yet play a significant role in the development of modern clinicians. The aim of this paper is to encourage students as future medical and clinical educators through an in-depth analysis of role modeling, with the goal of improving their "role modeling consciousness."

Teaching Future Teachers: Development of a Students-as-Teachers Advanced Elective for Post-Clerkship Medical Students.

Although teaching is an essential part of Graduate Medical Education and the practice of medicine, it is not often formally taught in Undergraduate Medical Education. Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) has addressed this gap by creating a year-long Students-as-Teachers elective for post-clerkship medical students. The elective utilizes diverse activities to emphasize core tenets of medical education theory while simultaneously providing authentic teaching opportunities. The success of the elective is primarily attributable to its structure and design, the collaborative and supportive medical education environment, and student initiative and engagement. This manuscript describes the implementation and outcomes of the Students-as-Teachers elective.

Training Medical Student Facilitators of Peer-Assisted Study Sessions Using an Objective Standardized Teaching Exercise.

Introduction: Peer-assisted study sessions (P.A.S.S.) are medical student-facilitated small-group sessions that aim to improve students' knowledge and performance in preclinical courses. Peer teaching has been shown to have a positive impact on academic performance of both learners and peer teachers. For peer teaching to be more effective, there is a need for training of peer teachers. We developed a facilitator training workshop to help to improve medical students' confidence in serving as P.A.S.S. facilitators. Methods: Participants were first-year medical students who were approved to become P.A.S.S. facilitators. We recruited facilitators to attend a training workshop and provided them with a training manual to use during the training session and as a resource after the session. We recruited five standardized students to participate in an objective standardized teaching exercise (OSTE). We asked facilitators to complete pre/post surveys before and after the workshop to indicate their level of confidence in facilitating the sessions and provide feedback on the workshop. Results: Nine P.A.S.S. facilitators participated in the training session. Analysis of pre- and postworkshop survey data showed a statistically significant increase in student confidence (p ≤ .02). Discussion: Developing and implementing a formalized P.A.S.S. facilitator training manual and workshop with an OSTE helped improve students' confidence in facilitating an organized, effective, and interactive peer teaching session. Students' positive feedback on the OSTE suggests that OSTEs can be useful tools to help peer teachers learn skills to cope with challenging situations with students.

Impact of Near-Peer Education in a Student-Run Free Ophthalmology Clinic on Medical Student Teaching Skills.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of near-peer teaching experiences in the ophthalmology branch of the East Harlem Health Outreach Program (EHHOP), a student-run clinic, on teaching skills of fourth-year medical student Teaching Seniors (TS). DESIGN: Mixed-methods observational study, including online survey and telephone interview. SETTING: Student-run ophthalmology clinic affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Hospital, a tertiary-care center in New York, NY. PARTICIPANTS: All EHHOP TS alumni from 2014 to 2019 were eligible for inclusion in our study. All 14 alumni participated in the survey, and 8 participated in the follow-up interview. METHODS: EHHOP ophthalmology TS alumni were surveyed via an online survey and subsequent, optional, individual telephone interview. The web survey queried former TS on the impact of EHHOP ophthalmology experiences on self-reported teaching skills and comfort with teaching. Quantitative analysis of survey questions and qualitative analysis of telephone responses was performed and analyzed for themes. RESULTS: Majority of participants reported increased comfort teaching ophthalmology concepts, teaching the slit-lamp exam, and serving as mentors as a result of their experience. Qualitative analysis of telephone interviews revealed 4 major themes: (1) TS were a self-selected group of individuals with prior interest in teaching, (2) Teaching experiences in EHHOP had a positive impact in many teaching-related domains, (3) TS perceptions of teaching skills gained did not necessarily align with junior students' perceptions of teaching received, and (4) despite increased confidence and satisfaction with teaching experiences, TS desired more formal instruction in teaching. CONCLUSIONS: While TS perceptions of teaching skills gained in EHHOP ophthalmology were overwhelmingly positive, TS still desired formal instruction in teaching. Additionally, the effectiveness of near-peer education in a subspecialty like ophthalmology, with limited formal curricular time, may be more effective later in training, when a more solid foundation of knowledge is acquired.

Getting Started with Peer-Assisted Learning in a Veterinary Curriculum.

Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) methodologies that involve students teaching other students have been shown to be valid and effective in a variety of disciplines and are gaining increasing interest within veterinary medical education. PAL has been formally embedded within the undergraduate veterinary clinical skills curriculum at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies (R(D)SVS), Edinburgh, since 2009 (and informally for several years before this) and has been delivered successfully to over one thousand first-year tutees by over one thousand fourth-year tutors (in their penultimate clinical year). This "teaching tip" article therefore aims to provide an informative overview of PAL for colleagues who may be interested in the methodology and to give practical tips as to how it can be successfully implemented in a veterinary degree program. We will summarize key evidence from the literature, provide a detailed example of how PAL has been implemented and optimized in our own veterinary degree program, include a subset of representative evaluation data from both tutors and tutees, and then conclude by providing colleagues with practical tips and resources (such as planning checklists and lesson plan templates) for implementing a PAL activity at their own school.

Medical Students' Professional Development as Educators Revealed Through Reflections on Their Teaching Following a Students-as-Teachers Course.

Phenomenon: Teaching is an important part of the tri-partite mission of every medical center. Although teaching often is given lower priority and recognition as opposed to patient care and/or research, this activity for many physicians in academic medicine ranks second to their patient care responsibilities. Medical teacher training has traditionally been aimed at faculty and residents through faculty development initiatives, continuing education for physicians at professional conferences, formalized degree or certificate programs in education, and residents as teachers programs. More recently medical schools have developed medical-students-as-teachers programs, often offered as 4th-year electives, to introduce learners to the theory of teaching and learning with appropriate application in the clinical setting. Data on learner outcomes and students' perceptions and experiences in these programs consist mostly of their satisfaction after completing such a program. In this article we explore 4th-year medical student trainees' experiences and emerging self-concepts as educators during a teaching elective. APPROACH: The purpose of this project was to explore students' reflections on their experiences in a 4th-year medical students-as-teachers course in their own words through their written self-assessment narratives. We used qualitative content analysis to examine 96 trainees' self-reported, written reflective narratives of how they translated their students-as-teachers course experience into application by applying newly learned educational theories, instructional strategies, and feedback skills while teaching novice peers physical diagnosis skills. FINDINGS: Narratives revealed candid self-assessments and detailed descriptions of their experiences and what they valued most from the course. Content analysis revealed nine key themes: using teaching strategies for adult learning, preparing for class, modeling professionalism, incorporating clinical correlations, exceeding course requirements, giving and receiving feedback, providing mentoring, creating a positive learning climate, and growing as educators. Insights: This study's results reveal how learners perceive and translate their experiences in a teaching course, in terms of incorporating particular knowledge or skills, valuing or displaying certain professional behaviors, and gaining self-awareness and satisfaction from teaching experiences. The findings of this study, specifically major themes from self-assessment narratives, provide us with a better understanding of medical students' developing identities and emerging professional self-concept as educators, specifically as experienced through a combination of formal teaching, and applying education theories and strategies. Findings may be informative from a program evaluation lens but also for faculty development initiatives related to training medical teachers and the larger landscape of the emerging field of Health Professions Education.

MedTalks: developing teaching abilities and experience in undergraduate medical students.

OBJECTIVES: According to the CanMEDS' Scholar competency, physicians are expected to facilitate the learning of colleagues, patients and other health professionals. However, most medical students are not provided with formal opportunities to gain teaching experience with objective feedback. METHODS: To address this, the University's Medical Education Interest Group (MEIG) created a pilot teaching program in January 2015 entitled 'MedTalks'. Four 3-hour sessions were held at the University Faculty of Medicine, where first and second year medical students taught clinically oriented topics to undergraduate university students. Each extracurricular session included three 30-minute content lectures, and a 90-minute small group session on physical examination skills. Each medical student-teacher received formal feedback from undergraduate students and from faculty educators regarding teaching style, communication abilities, and professionalism. In addition, medical student-teachers self-evaluated their own teaching experience. RESULTS: Over 50 medical students from the University participated as medical student-teachers. Based on quantitative and qualitative evaluation surveys, 100% of medical students agreed that MedTalks was a useful way to develop teaching skills and 92% gained a greater confidence in individual teaching capabilities, based largely on the opportunity to gain experience (with feedback) in teaching roles. CONCLUSIONS: A program designed to give medical students multi-source teaching experience (lecture- and small group-based) and feedback on their teaching (from learners and Faculty observers, in addition to their own self-reflection) can improve medical student confidence and enthusiasm towards teaching. Future studies will clarify if medical student self-perceived enhancements in teaching ability can be corroborated by independent (Faculty, learner) observations of future teaching activity.

Development and implementation of a longitudinal students as teachers program: participant satisfaction and implications for medical student teaching and learning.

BACKGROUND: Teaching is a key component of medical practice, but medical students receive little formal training to develop their teaching skills. A longitudinal Students as Teachers (SAT) program was created at the University of Toronto to provide medical students with opportunities to acquire an understanding of educational pedagogy and practice teaching early in their medical training. This program was 7-months in duration and consisted of monthly educational modules, practical teaching sessions, feedback, and reflective exercises. METHODS: A mixed methods study design was used to evaluate initial outcomes of the SAT program by obtaining the perspectives of 18 second-year medical students. Participants filled out questionnaires at the beginning and end of the 7-month program to indicate their skill level and confidence in teaching. Differences between pre- and post-intervention scores were further explored in a group interview of 5 participants. RESULTS: Participants expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the SAT program structure and found the educational modules and practical teaching sessions to be particularly beneficial to their learning. Over the course of the program, there were significant increases in students' confidence in teaching, and self-perceived teaching capacity and communication skills. Furthermore, participants discussed improvements in their effectiveness as learners. CONCLUSIONS: Teaching is a skill that requires ongoing practice. Our results suggest that a longitudinal program consisting of theoretical modules, practical teaching sessions, feedback, and reflective exercises for medical students may improve teaching and communication skills, and equip them with improved learning strategies. This program also provides students with insight into the experience of teaching while holding other academic and clinical responsibilities.

Can a teaching assistant experience in a surgical anatomy course influence the learning curve for nontechnical skill development for surgical residents?

The foundation upon which surgical residents are trained to work comprises more than just critical cognitive, clinical, and technical skill. In an environment where the synchronous application of expertise is vital to patient outcomes, the expectation for optimal functioning within a multidisciplinary team is extremely high. Studies have shown that for most residents, one of the most difficult milestones in the path to achieving professional expertise in a surgical career is overcoming the learning curve. This view point commentary provides a reflection from the two senior medical students who have participated in the Student-as-Teacher program developed by the Department of Anatomy at Mayo Clinic, designed to prepare students for their teaching assistant (TA) role in anatomy courses. Both students participated as TAs in a six week surgical anatomy course for surgical first assistant students offered by the School of Health Sciences at Mayo Clinic. Development of teaching skills, nontechnical leadership, communication, and assessment skills, are discussed in relation to their benefits in preparing senior medical students for surgical residency.

Developing medical students as teachers: an anatomy-based student-as-teacher program with emphasis on core teaching competencies.

Teaching is an increasingly recognized responsibility of the resident physician. Residents, however, often assume teaching responsibilities without adequate preparation. Consequently, many medical schools have implemented student-as-teacher (SAT) programs that provide near-peer teaching opportunities to senior medical students. Near-peer teaching is widely regarded as an effective teaching modality; however, whether near-peer teaching experiences in medical school prepare students for the teaching demands of residency is less understood. We explored whether the anatomy-based SAT program through the Human Structure didactic block at Mayo Medical School addressed the core teaching competencies of a medical educator and prepared its participants for further teaching roles in their medical careers. A web-based survey was sent to all teaching assistants in the anatomy-based SAT program over the past five years (2007-2011). Survey questions were constructed based on previously published competencies in seven teaching domains--course development, course organization, teaching execution, student coaching, student assessment, teacher evaluation, and scholarship. Results of the survey indicate that participants in the anatomy-based SAT program achieved core competencies of a medical educator and felt prepared for the teaching demands of residency.