Peer-Assisted Learning: Who Should Be the Tutor, Fellow Student or Senior Resident?

OBJECTIVE: To compare student-tutor guided peer-assisted learning (STPAL) and resident-tutor guided peer-assisted learning (RTPAL) for its impact on performance of students in summative assessment.

STUDY DESIGN: Quasi-experimental study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Gujranwala Medical College, from February to September 2015.

METHODOLOGY: Four batches each of final year MBBS students were first trained for clinical skills by resident-tutors for 2 weeks and had a pre-test. Two students with highest marks were selected as student-tutors. Half of the batch had a further 2 weeks skill training by the student-tutors while other half by resident-tutor, post-test was carried out after 2 weeks. Improvement in scores was compared between STPAL and RTPAL groups, using unpaired student t-test. The batch underwent same intervention for the next month with cross-over of STPAL and RTPAL groups.

RESULTS: Study population was 152 out of expected 188 as batch D underwent the study only once and 13 students were either absent or had decline in scores, so were excluded. Among 74 (48.68%) STPALand 78 (51.23%) RTPAL students, median improvement in scores was 8 for STPAL group as compared to 7 for RTPALgroup; the difference was not statistically significant (p= 0.61).

CONCLUSION: Student-tutor guided peer-assisted learning is as effective as resident-tutor peer assisted learning in improving performance of the students.