Peer education for medical students on health promotion and clinical risk management

Abstract

CONTEXT:

Health promotion (HP) and clinical risk management (CRM) topics are seldom discussed during medical school lessons. Peer-assisted learning (PAL) has long occurred informally in medical education, and interest in this method has recently grown, as it is considered a valuable technique for both tutors and tutees.

AIMS:

The aim was to evaluate the impact of HP and CRM PAL intervention on medical students' (tutees) knowledge level.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN:

A PAL intervention has been implemented at Udine University medical school during 2017. It was composed of lectures and practical activities conducted by ten near-peer tutors.

METHODS:

The effectiveness has been evaluated by giving tutees: (1) a knowledge multiple-choice questionnaire, before and after the intervention; (2) a satisfaction questionnaire; and evaluating (3) tutees' group assignments.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED:

We performed descriptive analysis; then McNemar, Wilcoxon signed rank, Wilcoxon Mann–Whitney, and t-tests were applied.

RESULTS:

The number of students addressed by PAL intervention was 62. Difference in total correct answers among pre- and post-intervention questionnaires showed a statistically significant improvement ( P < 0.0001), both when analyzing it globally and by area (HP/CRM). Students' satisfaction for CRM was greater than for HP area ( P = 0.0041).

CONCLUSIONS:

This educational intervention based on PAL showed its effectiveness producing a statistically significant improvement in students' knowledge. Our findings confirm that PAL could be a feasible method for HP and CRM topics.