Evaluation of a brief didactics training for peer teachers of medical history taking

The practical training of communicative competences in medical education is staff-intensive. We evaluate a brief didactics training for peer teachers (advanced students instructing fellow students from lower course levels) intended to efficiently enhance their teaching skills.

In a 9-hour didactics training, N = 139 peer teachers were prepared for instructing practical medical history taking exercises in small groups of undergraduate medical students. We assessed the participants' satisfaction with the training, their subjective increase in didactic skills, and their evaluation of the peer teachers (compared to how the same students evaluated experienced lecturers).

Participants evaluated the training positively and reported an increase in key didactic skills immediately after the training (0.17 ≤ r ≤ 0.20) and after their first term of teaching (0.12 ≤ r ≤ 0.20). Before the introduction of the training, students had rated their peer teachers less favorably than their faculty lecturers, but this gap disappeared after the introduction of the training (contribution to learning success: d = -0.84; quality of feedback: d = -0.43). Peer teachers were also perceived to be more activating in teaching compared to faculty lecturers (d = 0.34).

With a brief didactics training, peer teachers can become effective instructors for practical exercises of medical history taking interviews.