Development of a Single-Institution Virtual Internal Medicine Subinternship With Near-Peer Teaching in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Geriatrics Fellows Learning Online And Together (Geri-a-FLOAT): A sustainable model of learning and support

BACKGROUND

Geriatrics Fellows Learning Online And Together (Geri-a-FLOAT) is a virtual curriculum designed to convene fellows nationwide for learning and peer support. This paper presents the expansion and evaluation of the program from the "Wave 1" pilot to the "Wave 2" year-long curriculum.

METHODS

Kern's six-step approach to curriculum development was used to develop the Wave 2 curriculum. Participation was collected via Zoom. Post-session web-based surveys evaluated participant satisfaction regarding speaker, content, and overall session quality; intent-to-change; and a free-response section. A one-year follow-up survey sent to participants with valid e-mail addresses assessed sustained knowledge, skills, and behavior change.

RESULTS

Nineteen sessions were held with mean (SD) of 23 (13) participants per session, totaling 182 unique participants. Fifteen of 19 sessions were evaluated with 96 evaluations completed (mean [SD] 6 [4] evaluations per session). Mean (SD) ratings per session that were excellent or above average was 100% (0) for content, 99% (4) for speaker, and 99% (4) overall. Mean (SD) evaluations per session noting intent to change was 90% (14). Respondents reported helpful aspects as sharing resources and examples, perspectives and experiences of others, professional connections, and collaborative discussion. Of 127 participants with valid e-mail addresses, 40 (response rate = 31%) completed the one-year follow-up survey. Mean (SD) respondents reporting some or significant sustained impact was 89% (7) across all learning outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

This virtual, national curriculum for geriatrics fellows was well-received and associated with high rates of self-reported, sustained impact one-year post curriculum. Geri-a-FLOAT may be a model to standardize education and build collaboration and peer support across a discipline.

An Ophthalmology Virtual Externship during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Study

Background  The evolution of medical school curricula, characterized by truncated preclinical periods and reduced emphasis on ophthalmology, presents formidable obstacles to early exposure for aspiring medical students. The constraints imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic further exacerbated the limitations on opportunities, compelling the implementation of innovative initiatives aimed at augmenting students' ophthalmology education through virtual means. Purpose  This article assesses the impact of an Ophthalmology Virtual Externship (OVE) on medical students' knowledge, interest, confidence, and seeking mentorship in ophthalmology. Materials and Methods  A total of 76 students voluntarily participated in the program. The OVE encompassed four virtual sessions, facilitated by 4th year medical students employing a near-peer mentorship framework. The initiative was tailored for 2nd and 3rd year medical students and was conducted under the supervision of a faculty member. All participating students completed both pre- and postexternship surveys utilizing a 7-point Likert scale to gauge their levels of interest, confidence, and inclination toward mentorship opportunities in the field of ophthalmology. Furthermore, assessments of ophthalmology knowledge were administered prior to and subsequent to the externship participation. The degree of satisfaction derived from the OVE experience was also evaluated. Results  Participation in the OVE significantly elevated confidence in knowledge ( p  < 0.001) and mentorship interest ( p  = 0.029). Ophthalmology knowledge test scores also notably improved post-OVE across all participants, irrespective of prior experience ( p  < 0.001), with the most significant increase observed among 2nd and 3rd year students ( p  < 0.0001). After OVE participation, 73% of students expressed intent to pursue ophthalmology opportunities, including mentorship or research. The OVE received an average Likert score of 6.35 out of 7 for student satisfaction. Conclusion  The OVE serves as a virtual learning instrument beneficial for 2nd and 3rd year students with a proclivity for ophthalmology, offering a means to circumvent curriculum-related constraints. Moreover, given the decline in formal ophthalmic education, our study contributes to future research assessing the effectiveness of an OVE in addressing ophthalmic knowledge gaps among all medical students.

Observed Interactions, Challenges, and Opportunities in Student-Led, Web-Based Near-Peer Teaching for Medical Students: Interview Study Among Peer Learners and Peer Teachers

BACKGROUND

Near-peer teaching (NPT) is becoming an increasingly popular pedagogical tool in health professions education. Despite the shift in formal medical education from face-to-face teaching toward encompassing web-based learning activities, NPT has not experienced a similar transition. Apart from the few reports on NPT programs hastily converted to web-based learning in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, no studies to date have explored web-based learning in the specific context of NPT.

OBJECTIVE

This qualitative study examined the nature of interactions among peer learners (PLs), peer teachers (PTs), and the learning content in a student-led, web-based NPT program for medical students.

METHODS

A 5-month-long voluntary NPT program to support first- and second-year medical students' biomedical science learning in the undergraduate medical curriculum was designed by 2 senior-year medical students and delivered by 25 PTs with 84 PLs participating. In total, 9 PLs and 3 PTs underwent individual semistructured interviews at the end of the program to explore general NPT experience, reasons for joining NPT, the effectiveness of NPT, the demand and importance of NPT, and the feasibility of incorporating NPT in the formal curriculum. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach.

RESULTS

The first general theme focused on the nature of student-student, student-teacher, and student-content interactions. Although PLs were engaged in web-based NPT, there was minimal interaction between students, as most PLs preferred to learn passively and remain anonymous. PLs believed the web-based NPT learning process to be a unidirectional transmission of knowledge from teacher to learner, with the teacher responsible for driving the interactions. This was in sharp contrast to PTs' expectation that both parties shared responsibility for learning in a collaborative effort. The second general theme identified the advantages and disadvantages of delivering NPT on a web platform, which were mainly convenience and teaching skills development and poor interactivity, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Student-led, web-based NPT offers a flexible and comfortable means of delivering academic and nonacademic guidance to medical students. However, the web-based mode of delivery presents unique challenges in facilitating meaningful interactions among PLs, PTs, and subject content. A blended learning approach may be best suited for this form of student-led NPT program to optimize its efficacy.

Weekly near-peer tutoring sessions improve students' performance on basic medical sciences and USMLE Step1 examinations

PURPOSE

This study examined the relationship between attendance at weekly near-peer tutoring (NPT) sessions offered in the second year of medical school and academic performance on basic science and USMLE Step 1 examinations.

METHODS

Twenty-four weekly NPT sessions were delivered across all modules in the second year of medical school. Attendance of the sessions was recorded and students were divided into three groups: high (16-24 sessions), moderate (7-15 sessions), and low-no (0-6 sessions) attendance groups. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to determine the relationship between students' frequency of attendance and their performance on overall basic sciences, two NBME CBSEs, and USMLE Step 1 examinations. Students' academic performance was also analyzed using ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc test (p < 0.05) to compare differences between the three groups.

RESULTS

Pearson correlation analyses revealed that attending peer tutoring sessions was significantly correlated with students' performance in overall basic sciences, CBSE mid-year, CBSE final, and USMLE Step 1 examinations. The high attendance groups significantly outperformed the low-no attendance groups on overall basic sciences (p = 0.007), CBSE mid-year (p < 0.001), CBSE final (p < 0.018), and USMLE Step 1 (p = 0.048) examinations.

CONCLUSIONS

Attending NPT sessions are significantly correlated with students' performance on basic sciences and on USMLE Step1 examinations. Attendance of weekly NPT sessions is a valuable experience for M2 students.

An at-home laboratory in plant biology designed to engage students in the process of science

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a transition to remote delivery of courses that lack immersive hands-on research experiences for undergraduate science students, resulting in a scientific research skills gap. In this report, we present an option for an inclusive and authentic, hands-on research experience that all students can perform off-campus. Biology students in a semester-long (13 weeks) sophomore plant physiology course participated in an at-home laboratory designed to study the impacts of nitrogen addition on growth rates and root nodulation by wild nitrogen-fixing Rhizobia in Pisum sativum (Pea) plants. This undergraduate research experience, piloted in the fall semester of 2020 in a class with 90 students, was created to help participants learn and practice scientific research skills during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the learning outcomes associated with this at-home research experience were: (1) generate a testable hypothesis, (2) design an experiment to test the hypothesis, (3) explain the importance of biological replication, (4) perform meaningful statistical analyses using R, and (5) compose a research paper to effectively communicate findings to a general biology audience. Students were provided with an at-home laboratory kit containing the required materials and reagents, which were chosen to be accessible and affordable in case students were unable to access our laboratory kit. Students were guided through all aspects of research, including hypothesis generation, data collection, and data analysis, with video tutorials and live virtual sessions. This at-home laboratory provided students an opportunity to practice hands-on research with the flexibility to collect and analyze their own data in a remote setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. This, or similar laboratories, could also be used as part of distance learning biology courses.