NIHR Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom.
School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2020 Feb 24;15(2):e0229338. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229338. eCollection 2020.
International medical electives, whereby undergraduates visit an institution in a country other than their own, are a common part of medical training. Visiting students are often asked to provide local teaching, which may be acceptable where the visitor is acting within the bounds of their own competency and the normal practices of both their home and host institutions. However, the extent to which teaching is an accepted student activity globally has not previously been described. This study aims to address this using an international survey approach.
A voluntary electronic survey, created using the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES) framework, was distributed across established international medical student networks. This assessed the involvement of medical students in teaching and the educator training they receive, with the intention of comparing experiences between high-income countries (HICs) and low/middle-income countries (LMICs) to gauge the engagement of both "host" and "visiting" students.
443 students from 61 countries completed the survey, with an equal proportion of respondents from LMICs (49.4%, 219/443) and HICs (50.6%, 224/443). Around two thirds of students reported providing teaching whilst at medical school, with most reporting teaching numerous times a year, mainly to more junior medical students. There was with no significant difference between LMICs and HICs. Around 30 per cent of all medical students reported having received no teacher training, including 40 per cent of those already providing teaching.
This study suggests that students are engaged in teaching globally, with no difference between HIC and LMIC contexts. However, students are underprepared to act as educators in both settings. Providing teaching as part of an elective experience may be ethically acceptable to both host and home institutions, but needs to be supported by formal training in delivering teaching.
国际医学实习项目是医学培训的常见组成部分，在此项目中，本科生访问自己所在国家以外的机构。实习学生通常被要求提供当地教学，只要访问者在自己的能力范围内行事，并且符合其本国和接待机构的正常惯例，这种做法是可以接受的。然而，在全球范围内，教学在多大程度上是一种被接受的学生活动，此前尚未有过描述。本研究旨在通过国际调查方法来解决这个问题。
使用互联网电子调查清单（CHERRIES）框架创建了一份自愿性电子调查，分发给已建立的国际医学生网络。该调查评估了医学生参与教学的情况以及他们接受的教育者培训，目的是比较高收入国家（HICs）和低收入/中等收入国家（LMICs）之间的经验，以衡量“接待”和“访问”学生的参与度。
来自 61 个国家的 443 名学生完成了调查，其中来自 LMICs（49.4%，219/443）和 HICs（50.6%，224/443）的应答者比例相等。大约三分之二的学生报告在医学院期间提供教学，大多数学生报告每年多次教学，主要是向更年轻的医学生教学。LMICs 和 HICs 之间没有显著差异。大约 30%的医学生报告没有接受过任何教师培训，包括已经提供教学的学生中的 40%。
本研究表明，全球范围内学生都参与了教学，HIC 和 LMIC 环境之间没有差异。然而，学生在这两种环境中都没有做好充当教育者的准备。作为实习经历的一部分提供教学，对接待机构和本国机构来说在道德上可能是可以接受的，但需要提供教授教学的正式培训。
