Skills Lab, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Med Educ Online. 2024 Dec 31;29(1):2412394. doi: 10.1080/10872981.2024.2412394. Epub 2024 Oct 8.
Teaching is an essential skill for future doctors. Peer-assisted learning (PAL)-where students take up a teaching role at an early stage of their training-is widely used in medical curricula. No studies have explored the long-term perceived impact of peer teaching. Therefore, we aimed to determine how former peer teachers reflected on PAL and its perceived long-term impact. In this longitudinal descriptive study, we conducted 42 semi-structured interviews with 11 former peer teachers at the University of Antwerp. Five of them were interviewed 6 months after PAL; 6 of them 9 years after PAL. This latter group was also interviewed during PAL in a previous study. We conducted secondary analyses of previously collected interviews, consistently comparing the findings with new data gathered from the current interviews. Using realist thematic analysis, topic summary themes were generated. Former peer teachers reflected on their PAL experience with a lot of satisfaction. Those meanwhile working as residents are still passionate about teaching. Peer teachers experienced a gain in clinical examination- and professional skills in the long-term, facilitating a smoother transition to their internship. Our findings suggest that PAL selects diverse but committed students. The longitudinal data demonstrate how PAL initiates or stimulates different skills in diverse students, including public speaking, teaching, time management, and self-efficacy in specific clinical skills. Regarding the chicken-and-egg question, our study encompasses both longitudinal cases illustrating the pre-existing skill theory and cases demonstrating how achieved competences were induced by PAL. Former peer teachers experienced long-term benefits of PAL, which eased their transition into the internship. PAL has the potential to ignite a lasting passion for teaching, providing diverse and unique learning opportunities not only for the most talented and 'pre-selected' medical students but also for a range of dedicated future clinicians.
教学是未来医生的一项基本技能。同伴辅助学习（PAL）——学生在培训的早期阶段承担教学角色——在医学课程中被广泛应用。目前还没有研究探索同伴教学的长期感知影响。因此，我们旨在确定以前的同伴教师如何看待 PAL 及其感知的长期影响。在这项纵向描述性研究中，我们在安特卫普大学采访了 11 名前同伴教师中的 42 名，其中 5 名在 PAL 后 6 个月接受采访，6 名在 PAL 后 9 年接受采访。后者还在前一项研究中在 PAL 期间接受了采访。我们对之前收集的采访进行了二次分析，始终将新数据与当前采访中收集的数据进行比较。使用现实主义主题分析，生成主题总结主题。以前的同伴教师对他们的 PAL 经验非常满意。那些同时担任住院医师的人仍然热衷于教学。从长远来看，同伴教师在临床检查和专业技能方面都获得了收益，这为他们顺利过渡到实习阶段提供了帮助。我们的研究结果表明，PAL 选拔了多样化但有奉献精神的学生。纵向数据表明，PAL 如何在不同的学生中激发或刺激不同的技能，包括公开演讲、教学、时间管理和特定临床技能的自我效能感。关于先有鸡还是先有蛋的问题，我们的研究包括了既说明先有技能理论又说明 PAL 如何通过 PAL 产生获得的能力的纵向案例。以前的同伴教师从 PAL 中获得了长期收益，这为他们过渡到实习阶段提供了便利。PAL 有可能点燃对教学的持久热情，为不仅最有天赋和“预先选择”的医学生，而且为一系列专注的未来临床医生提供多样化和独特的学习机会。
