gms | German Medical Science

Background: Clinical skills peer teaching has become an established and common method to enhance student learning. It enables students to develop their teaching skills early, to broaden their knowledge and represents a potential resource-saving measure as it alleviates faculty teaching burden [1], [2]. Our aim is to present the development of clinical skills peer teaching at Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, and to describe its assessment methods and accompanying projects.

Methods: Analysis of our evaluation reports, OSCE results and publications was performed.

Results: Our clinical skills peer teaching started in September 2010 with the establishment of the Clinical Skills Laboratory and the Simulation Centre. Educational process started as part of an elective subject Selected topics and novelties in propaedeutics. Eight clinical skills peer tutors taught seventeen third year medical students how to perform basic clinical examinations and clinical skills (see Table 1 [Tab. 1]). In the following year, the number of students increased from 17 to 40 and the number of tutors from 8 to 13. In academic year 2012/2013, recognition of the quality of peer teaching by the faculty management enabled incorporation of peer teaching into regular curriculum. An obligatory 18-hour propaedeutics clinical skills training was implemented as part of a subject Internal medicine in the third year of study. Subsequently, the number of tutors increased to 20 and number of students to 100. In academic year 2013/2014, regular programme was upgraded with basic clinical skills seminars as part of the same subject (Table 1); the number of tutors reached its maximum at 26. Additionally, ECG courses and clinical skills workshops for sixth year medical students were implemented. In the following year, surgical peer teaching was implemented with 12 surgical skills peer tutors. Finally, in academic year 2016/2017, project work was expanded with one-day marathon of clinical skills called “Klinikfest” and clinical skills workshop for foreign exchange students.

Discussion: Recent pilot studies at our faculty have confirmed the quality and positive effects of the implementation of the clinical skills peer teaching into regular curriculum (2). Having started with only 8 motivated students, tutoring system reached its optimal capacity with 26 clinical, 12 surgical, and 20 pre-clinical peer tutors. With enthusiasm of the students, quality peer-teaching educational process, support of the teachers and the faculty management, it is an important mission to maintain and further develop the current system, to educate successful future doctors and to follow the novelties in medical education. The long-term plan is to expand surgical skills tutoring, preserve current project work and to engage new fields of medicine into clinical skills teaching with further implementation of OSCE.