Effect of peer-teaching in learning and teaching anatomy: pilot study of the effect of introducing tutor training sessions

The use of peer-teaching has been well recognized as an effective tool within medical school curricula. Published literature provides some evidence of its advantages for both the tutor and the tutee. Often, in practice the planning and implementation of the peer-teaching sessions are left to the tutors with little or no guidance. This study aims to (i) investigate the effect of participation in peer-teaching on tutors’ anatomical knowledge with the application of a training program, (ii) evaluate the perceptions of peer-tutors and tutees of the effectiveness of the peer-teaching program. Ten term-2 medical students took part in three training sessions focusing on the clinical applications of the anatomy of the upper limb, thorax and abdomen prior to their peer-teaching sessions, which included 23 tutees. The questionnaire based assessment included: tutors appreciation of the relative anatomy assessed by 30 clinical vignettes, tutors and tutees perception of the peer-teaching experience measured by 23 and 12 questions, Likert-type-scale questionnaires respectively. Tutors perception correlated favorably with respect to improving their teaching abilities (mean scores of 3.5/5.0). The peer-teaching sessions were well received by the tutees; providing them with a student- perception and an alternative explanation of anatomical concepts (mean score of 3.7/5.0 and 3.8/5.0 respectively). Peer-teaching provides students with not only an opportunity to reinforce their anatomical knowledge, but also allows them to develop essential teaching skills and further develop various competencies. Creating a peer-teaching program allows for a clear learning strategy which can be implemented, evaluated and improved.