A model for peer tutoring in the medical school setting

For the past several years, the University of Maryland School of Medicine has operated a successful and efficient basic science peer tutorial program through the management of the Office of Medical Education. During the 1981-82 and 1982-83 academic years, 122 tutoring dyads were formed to take advantage of the tutoring program in nine of the 10 basic science courses encountered during the first two years of medical training. The success of the program is evident in that tutored students received passing grades in 102 (84 percent) of the courses in which they were tutored. In this paper, the authors discuss the systematic procedure of managing a peer tutorial program and the potential positive effects the program has on student tutors as well as on the medical student in academic difficulty.