118 - Impact of a self-selected, high autonomy lab-based peer teaching method on student performance in gross anatomy in an integrated medical school curriculum

Poster Board Number: 118
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Timothy Dasinger, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Advanced Biomedical Education, University of Mississippi Medical Center; Yuefeng Lu, Ph.D. - Associate Professor, Advanced Biomedical Education, University of Mississippi Medical Center; Norma Ojeda, MD, MSCI, CCRP - Professor and Chair, Advanced Biomedical Education, University of Mississippi Medical Center; Gongchao Yang, Ph.D. - Professor, Advanced Biomedical Education, University of Mississippi Medical Center; Nathan Tullos, Ph.D. - Associate Professor, Advanced Biomedical Education, University of Mississippi Medical Center

Abstract Body : Peer teaching in medical education is well-received by students and has been shown to benefit learning. Studies have demonstrated that students involved in peer teaching exhibit increased understanding of material, improved study habits, and improved confidence. The primary purpose of this study is to determine if participation in a self-selected, high autonomy model of reciprocal peer teaching in gross anatomy lab sessions impacts the performance of first year medical students enrolled in an integrated medical curriculum. Gross anatomy dissection tables were shared by an A and B group. To facilitate communication between the dissection groups, students were required to select a representative from each group to attend the beginning of following lab session and teach their peers what was learned in the previous dissection. This process was a self-selected volunteer system which allowed students to participate as the peer teacher in a single session, multiple sessions, or not at all. Student performance on the gross anatomy specific exam questions were retrospectively analyzed using bivariate correlations to determine if a correlation exists between participation and frequency of gross anatomy laboratory peer teaching. Out of 167 students, 152 participated in peer teaching at least once with 10 participating in four or more sessions. On average, students led 1.7 peer teaching sessions each. The average gross anatomy lab practical exam scores for students leading zero, one, two, and three or more sessions were 74 ± 9.7, 76.3 ± 11.1, 82.7 ± 9.06, and 83.9 ± 9.4, respectively. Performance on the gross anatomy lab practical exams and participation in peer teaching was found to be weakly positively correlated r(165) = .28, p < .05. Our results show that a self-selected, high autonomy model of reciprocal peer teaching in gross anatomy lab sessions has a positive impact on student performance.