146 - Exam performance characteristics as motivating factors for student attendance in near-peer-tutoring of anatomy laboratory material

Poster Board Number: 146
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Nathan Thompson, Ph.D. - Associate Professor, Anatomy, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine

Abstract Body :
Introduction/Objectives: Peer assisted learning (PAL) is being increasingly utilized in preclinical medical education, including in anatomy laboratory material. Existing literature shows a number of benefits of PAL for medical students, both as tutors and tutees, including increasing exam scores and improving professional development skills. Yet, when PAL is optional for students, data is unclear as to who attends and who benefits from PAL. In particular, previous research suggests that those students most in need of help are also least likely to attend supplemental PAL. Supplemental near-peer-tutoring (NPT), a type of PAL where upper-level students tutor junior students, has been recently implemented at NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine. Here, we sought to understand patterns of medical student attendance in anatomy laboratory (AL) tutoring sessions, and their relationship to exam score, and improvement in exam score, throughout the semester.




Methods and Results: NPT attendance records and AL exams scores from the fall semesters of 2021 and 2022 were utilized in this study. In the NPT program 10–12 qualified second year medical students tutored 10–30 first year medical students at a time. Sessions dedicated to AL material were offered regularly through the semester (2021: 38 sessions, 2-4 per week; 2022: 30 sessions, 1-2 per week). Because students took four AL exams in 2021 and three AL exams in 2022, comparisons between exam scores and NPT attendance were performed separately for the two years. For both semesters, final AL course scores of students who never attended NPT sessions were significantly higher than students who attended one or more times (2021: mean=82.8% v 79.8 %, p< 0.01; 2022: mean=79.7% v 76.7%, p< 0.01). In 2021, students who chose to attend at least one NPT session between consecutive exams performed, on average, worse on the prior exam than students that chose not to attend NPT sessions (p< 0.05). In 2022, the same phenomenon was present between the first two exams (p< 0.05). Early in the semester, students who maintained attendance in the NPT program tended to have greater increases in consecutive exam scores than students who stopped attending NPT sessions. Additionally, students who initially did not attend NPT, but then joined later in the semester, tended to have greater increases in consecutive exam scores compared to students who never attended.




Conclusion: The data herein subsequently suggests that students with lower course scores who may need the most additional assistance are the students attending NPT sessions. Students who perform worse on a single exam are generally more likely to attend a NPT session prior to the following exam. These data suggest that changes in exam score may be one motivating factor in students’ decisions to attend AL NPT sessions.