Can revisiting pre-clinical coursework at the end of medical school enhance learning for near-peer teachers?

Abstract

Many medical schools have integrated early clinical skills courses to ease the “pre-clinical” to “clinical” transition for medical students. However, it may also be beneficial for medical students to revisit the pre-clinical basic sciences after their core clerkship rotations to foster a deeper understanding of causal pathways of disease that often take a backseat to clinical management principles during the clerkship experience. To this point, the author reflects on the learning benefits she experienced at the end of medical school when she served as a near-peer teacher in an integrated, organ-based physiology and pathophysiology course for first-year medical students. “Teaching to learn” as a senior medical student may be a way to consolidate and foster deeper understanding of medical knowledge in the post-clerkship period of medical school.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks faculty and students involved in the Harvard Medical School first-year Homeostasis course. The author also thanks Homeostasis course director, Dr. Richard Schwartzstein, and Harvard Medical Education Student Interest Group faculty advisor, Dr. Holly Gooding, for their support organizing peer teaching opportunities in the Homeostasis course.

Disclosure statement

The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Notes on contributor

Jasmine Rana, is 2017 MD-MMSc Medical Education Candidate at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Boston, MA, USA. She is a student leader in the Medical Education Student Interest Group (MEDSIG) at HMS, which organizes near-peer teaching opportunities for senior medical students in the pre-clinical curriculum.