Students Teaching Students: A Novel Solution for Teaching Procedures via Instruction on the Corpse

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Skills Training
• Cadaveric Simulation

Background:

• Faculty and resident time constraints limit clinical skills instruction for medical students.
• Existing educational innovations and simulation methods have not consistently demonstrated success.
• A novel approach is needed to enhance clinical procedural skills training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a fresh cadaver-based, student-driven procedural skills lab.
• To compare the educational effectiveness of first-year medical student instructors (TMS) versus senior instructors (SI).

Main Methods:

• Prospective study at an academic medical center.
• Pilot program: "Students Teaching Students" with trained first-year medical students instructing peers.
• Comparison of teaching evaluations, confidence improvement, and objective test scores between TMS and SI groups.

Main Results:

• Both TMS and SI groups showed significant improvement in procedural confidence.
• No significant difference in cognitive knowledge or test scores between TMS and SI groups.
• Confidence improvement was comparable between TMS and SI for chest tube insertion and femoral line placement.

Conclusions:

• Well-trained first-year medical students are a viable teaching resource for procedural skills.
• The "Students Teaching Students" lab effectively enhanced immediate confidence and technical skills.
• Student-led instruction can supplement traditional methods to address educational time limitations.