gms | German Medical Science

Research in Medical Education – Chances and Challenges International Conference

20.05. - 22.05.2009, Heidelberg

Breaking new ground in teaching medical students emergency medicine- Evaluation of a multi-centre, peer-guided teaching concept

Meeting Abstract

  • corresponding author presenting/speaker Peter Iblher - Universität zu Lübeck, Klinik für Anästhesiologie, Lübeck, Germany
  • author Hanns Iblher - Charite Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Klinik für Anästhesiologie und Operative Intensivmedizin, Berlin, Germany
  • author Robert F. Wolff - Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, Deutsches Cochrane Zentrum, Freiburg, Germany
  • author Holger Harbs - Präsidium Arbeitsgemeinschaft Erste Hilfe und Notfallkunde für Medizinstudierende (AGEHMED) e.V., Berlin, Germany
  • author Michael Hüppe - Universität zu Lübeck, Klinik für Anästhesiologie, Lübeck, Germany
  • author Wolfgang Eichler - Universität zu Lübeck, Klinik für Anästhesiologie, Lübeck, Germany

Research in Medical Education - Chances and Challenges 2009. Heidelberg, 20.-22.05.2009. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2009. Doc09rmeB3

doi: 10.3205/09rme08, urn:nbn:de:0183-09rme088

Published: May 5, 2009

© 2009 Iblher et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

Abstract

Background: Medical students who want to apply for preliminary medical examinations in Germany have to prove that they have attended a first-aid course. But lay-courses are often not up to the standards and needs that medical students require of them. As a result, and since 1996, members of the German task group “AGEHMED” - all of whom are medical students – have been teaching their peers target group orientated in first aid and emergency techniques at Medical School. During such training courses, up to 120 medical students are instructed by 30 specially trained Peers. It is not only the transfer of fundamental emergency knowledge and techniques in class; the attendees also gain hands-on experience by rotating through modules where they have to solve different lifelike emergency situations using Standardized Patients. Under supervision of other attendees and the instructors the proceeding is then discussed in order to come up with the right algorithm for coping with the emergency situation. The task group “AGEHMED” is currently active with 190 students at six German Medical Schools. All Medical Students – even those without any previous knowledge – can participate and qualify in emergency medicine education of their peers following a supervised five-step model.

Question: The aim of this study was to examine the results of a questionnaire that was used for evaluation of peer-guided AGEHMED-first-aid courses at medical schools over the last 7 years and to assess its validity and reliability.

Method: From 2000 to 2007 59 first-aid courses with 4,941 medical students were evaluated. After carrying out descriptive analyses the factorial validity and reliability (Cronbach’s α) of the questionnaire were assessed. The inter-scale correlation of the significant factors was also analysed.

Results: The courses were continuously well rated. 68% of variance was clarified by the factors “Quality of the course”, “Learning success”, “Comparison to other university courses”, “Overall Satisfaction” and “Scheduling of the course”. The mean inter-skale correlation was r=0.23 and Cronbach’s Alpha was between 0.62 and 0.81.

Conclusions: The peer-guided courses have been continually well received by the course participants over the last seven years. The questionnaire shows sufficient validity and reliability. Based on these results, we may presume that this standardized approach can be more widely put into practice in the education of medical students.