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Clinical Orthopaedic Teaching programme for Students (COTS).
Prakrit Raj Kumar1, Thomas Stubley2, Yousuf Hashmi2
1University of Birmingham College of Medical and Dental Sciences, Birmingham, UK prk576@bham.ac.uk.
Postgraduate Medical Journal
|November 13, 2020
Summary
The Clinical Orthopaedic Teaching programme for Students (COTS) effectively uses near-peer teaching to improve medical students' orthopaedic examination skills and confidence. Tutors also reported enhanced teaching abilities, demonstrating the program's dual benefits.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Orthopaedic Surgery Training
- Clinical Skills Assessment
Background:
- Significant variability exists in orthopaedic examination teaching, causing confusion for medical students preparing for Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs).
- Formal preparation for teaching orthopaedic examinations is rarely provided to medical doctors, despite it being an expected role.
- The Clinical Orthopaedic Teaching programme for Students (COTS) was developed to standardize orthopaedic examination knowledge for students and prepare senior students for future teaching roles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of the Clinical Orthopaedic Teaching programme for Students (COTS) in enhancing medical students' knowledge and confidence in performing orthopaedic examinations.
- To assess the impact of a near-peer teaching (NPT) model on student learning and tutor development within an orthopaedic context.
- To provide a scalable model for improving orthopaedic examination training in medical education.
Main Methods:
- A six-session, fortnightly program focusing on specific joint examinations.
- Voluntary recruitment of both students and tutors for participation.
- Utilized pre- and post-session multiple-choice questions (MCQs) to gauge knowledge improvement and anonymous feedback forms for qualitative assessment.
Main Results:
- 98.4% of students found COTS relevant to their curriculum and met learning outcomes.
- 96.7% of students endorsed the near-peer teaching (NPT) style for Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) preparation.
- Significant improvements were observed in student confidence (p<0.001) and MCQ scores (p<0.001), alongside enhanced teaching skills and confidence reported by tutors (p=0.016).
Conclusions:
- The Clinical Orthopaedic Teaching programme for Students (COTS) demonstrates the efficacy of a near-peer teaching approach for orthopaedic examinations.
- The program yields significant benefits for both students, in terms of knowledge and confidence, and tutors, in skill development.
- Pilot study findings are published to encourage the adoption and refinement of similar orthopaedic teaching programs at other institutions.
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