Outcome Of Peer-Assisted Learning With Clinical Scenarios

ABSTRACT

This educational intervention study was conducted in a municipal medical college in Maharashtra, India. 60 rst-year MBBS students aged 18 years and above, of either gender, were briefed about peer-assisted learning. A pre-test was administered after a faculty-delivered conventional lecture. Subsequently, a trained peer teacher taught the same topic and an identical test was again administered. The mean marks (out of 20) of students increased from 15.37 +/- 2.69 (pre-test) to 17.80 +/- 1.97 (post-test), exhibiting signicant difference (p<0.00001). The differences in the mean marks obtained in the pre-and post-tests by male (p=0.000079) and female (p=0.000063) students were also signicant. The gender differences in the mean marks were not statistically signicant in the pre-test (p=0.633) and the post-test (p=0.696). The results suggest that case scenarios combined with peer-assisted learning increases cognitive domain scores and have the potential to be used as a supplementary method, as an adjunct to faculty teaching.