Near‐Peer Anatomy‐Anchored Teaching
O. Rackham, M. M. Maitland, P. Ahluwalia, O. Murray, J. E. McKayABSTRACT
Background
The transition from pre‐clinical to clinical medicine is challenging, particularly in applying anatomical knowledge to patient care. Reductions in dedicated anatomy teaching time have compounded this. Near‐peer teaching may help address this gap by reducing hierarchy and enhancing psychological safety, though few programmes have explicitly targeted the pre‐clinical to clinical transition through the integration of anatomy with clinical cases.
Approach
A prospective educational evaluation examined a near‐peer, case‐based orthopaedic anatomy programme delivered to Year 4 medical students by Year 5 facilitators across four sessions. Knowledge acquisition was assessed using parallel pre‐ and post‐session multiple‐choice question (MCQ) sets compared using Wilcoxon signed‐rank test and Cohen's d z . Student experience was evaluated using purpose‐designed questionnaires.
Evaluation
Thirty‐two matched pairs were available for analysis. Baseline anatomical confidence (mean 2.76/5) and ratings of placement‐based anatomy teaching (mean 2.26/5) indicated clear unmet need. MCQ scores improved significantly from 5.0 to 7.0 out of 8 (mean 5.00 vs. 6.69, p < 0.001, Cohen's d z = 1.12). Post‐session confidence improved to 4.03/5, facilitators were rated highly (mean 4.59/5), and 97% of students felt comfortable engaging with peer facilitators.
Implications
This programme provides preliminary support for near‐peer, case‐based anatomy teaching as a promising approach to supporting the pre‐clinical to clinical transition, demonstrating short‐term improvements in MCQ performance, confidence and student satisfaction.