Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Saarland University Medical Center, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
sonoBYstudents, Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Saarland University Medical Center, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
Ultraschall Med. 2020 Feb;41(1):36-43. doi: 10.1055/a-1034-7749. Epub 2019 Nov 19.
Diagnostic ultrasound has a crucial importance in clinical settings, especially in intensive care medicine where bedside ultrasound has become indispensable. Medical students as well as residents therefore have a strong interest in learning this useful skill. Since staff resources are limited, more and more universities are using student tutors in a peer-assisted learning concept (PAL) to teach medical students early in their training. To date, there is very sparse data about knowledge retention after peer-assisted teaching. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether PAL is a suitable method for teaching complex skills like abdominal ultrasound and to evaluate whether students do achieve adequate long-term knowledge retention after peer-assisted teaching.
A total of 40 volunteer 3 to 5 year students were randomly assigned to a basic abdominal ultrasound course in small training groups of 5 persons each. Participants were evaluated using a pre-post-test design by a validated objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) before and immediately after the course. To measure the retention of knowledge, 15 former participants were randomly selected to repeat the OSCE assessment after one year.
All groups showed a significant improvement in practical skills and knowledge gain after the training with mean values of 13.1 for pre-test compared to 83.5 (maximum 100 points) for post-test (p < 0.001). The overall score achieved after one year was 78.7 and did not significantly differ from the post-test result.
PAL is effective for teaching abdominal ultrasound. Students were able to accomplish a satisfactory level of ultrasound skills. We further demonstrated that PAL can assure long-term knowledge retention.
诊断超声在临床环境中具有至关重要的作用，特别是在重症监护医学中，床边超声已成为不可或缺的手段。因此，医学生和住院医师都对学习这一有用技能有着浓厚的兴趣。由于人员资源有限，越来越多的大学正在使用学生导师在同伴辅助学习（PAL）概念中教授医学生，使其在培训早期就能接触到这一技能。迄今为止，关于同伴辅助教学后的知识保留情况的数据非常有限。本研究的目的是评估 PAL 是否适合教授腹部超声等复杂技能，并评估学生在同伴辅助教学后是否确实能够获得足够的长期知识保留。
共有 40 名志愿的 3 至 5 年级学生被随机分配到一个基本的腹部超声课程中，每个小培训组有 5 人。参与者通过一项经过验证的客观结构化临床考试（OSCE）进行了预-后测试设计评估，在课程之前和之后立即进行。为了衡量知识的保留情况，随机选择了 15 名前参与者在一年后重复 OSCE 评估。
所有组在培训后实践技能和知识获得方面都有显著提高，前测平均值为 13.1，后测平均值为 83.5（满分 100 分）（p<0.001）。一年后的总分为 78.7，与后测结果无显著差异。
PAL 对教授腹部超声有效。学生能够达到令人满意的超声技能水平。我们进一步证明，PAL 可以确保长期的知识保留。
