Peer education for medical students on health promotion and clinical risk management

CONTEXT: Health promotion (HP) and clinical risk management (CRM) topics are seldom discussed during medical school lessons. Peer‐assisted learning (PAL) has long occurred informally in medical education, and interest in this method has recently grown, as it is considered a valuable technique for both tutors and tutees. AIMS: The aim was to evaluate the impact of HP and CRM PAL intervention on medical students’ (tutees) knowledge level. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A PAL intervention has been implemented at Udine University medical school during 2017. It was composed of lectures and practical activities conducted by ten near‐peer tutors. METHODS: The effectiveness has been evaluated by giving tutees: (1) a knowledge multiple‐choice questionnaire, before and after the intervention; (2) a satisfaction questionnaire; and evaluating (3) tutees’ group assignments. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: We performed descriptive analysis; then McNemar, Wilcoxon signed rank, Wilcoxon Mann–Whitney, and t‐tests were applied. RESULTS: The number of students addressed by PAL intervention was 62. Difference in total correct answers among pre‐ and post‐intervention questionnaires showed a statistically significant improvement (P < 0.0001), both when analyzing it globally and by area (HP/CRM). Students’ satisfaction for CRM was greater than for HP area (P = 0.0041). CONCLUSIONS: This educational intervention based on PAL showed its effectiveness producing a statistically significant improvement in students’ knowledge. Our findings confirm that PAL could be a feasible method for HP and CRM topics.