Background Near-peer medical education serves as an important method of delivering education to junior students by senior students. Due to the reduced clinical exposure because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed a mentorship scheme to help medical students with their Integrated Structured Clinical Examinations (ISCEs) by providing a combination of near-peer mentorship together with lecture-based teaching on a weekly basis for a 12-week period. Students attended a specialty-focused lecture every Tuesday followed by a small group teaching session organised by their tutor. Methods A longitudinal evaluative interventional study was undertaken by the international student led medical education organisation, OSCEazy. The teaching programme was organised and conducted by third year medical students to a recruited cohort of second year medical students. Students’ perceptions of ISCEs (confidence, anxiety, and overall performance) were evaluated using 5-point Likert scales while their knowledge of the specialty was assessed using 10 single best answer questions which were distributed via Google® forms at the start and end of each week. In addition, we assessed tutor perceptions of their teaching and learning experience. Results Seventy-two tutees were enrolled in the programme (mean age: 24.4, female: 77.8%). 88.9% of the participants had not attended any online ISCE teaching prior to this. They preferred in-person ISCE teaching as compared to virtual sessions [median 4.5 (IQR 4–5) vs 3 (IQR 3–4), p <  0.0001), respectively]. There was a significant overall increase in knowledge when comparing pre-session and post-session performance [mean 53.7% vs 70.7%, p <  0.0001)]. There was a significant increase in student confidence [Confidence: median 3 (IQR:3–4) vs 4 (IQR 3–4), p <  0.0001] while no change was seen in the anxiety and perception of their overall performance in an ISCE. [Anxiety: median 3 (IQR 2–4) vs 3 (IQR 3–4), p = 0.37, Performance: median 3 (IQR 3–4) vs median 3 (IQR 3–4), p <  0.0001]. The tutors reported an increase in their confidence in teaching ISCEs online [median 3 (IQR 2–3.25) vs median 4 (IQR 4–5), p <  0.0001)]. Conclusion Online near-peer teaching increases the confidence of both tutees and tutors involved while enhancing the tutees’ knowledge of the specialty. Thus, medical schools should incorporate near-peer teaching in their curriculum to enhance the student learning experience.

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruption to higher education, including medical studies. Online learner support became urgently necessary, and peer-support of learning was needed to supplement formal teaching. This study evaluates the impact and delivery media of OSCEazy, a student-led initiative supporting formal teaching across institutional and national boundaries. Methods A survey was created on Google Forms and disseminated via the Zoom chat function to all the participants at the end of our event titled, “The Cardiology Station”. Results A large proportion (99.5%) of the students have a Facebook account and (98.7%) use it to keep track of medical events (p=0.45 for comparison). However, a very small proportion of use their other social media to keep up with medical events (p<0.0001 for comparison). Conclusion It is evident from our results, that most of our participants used Facebook to keep track of medical events. The use of their other social media platforms (Instagram, etc) to keep track of medical events was limited. Thus, it is important for any organisation, such as ours, who conduct online events to evaluate which platform is most suitable for them to use to publicise their events.

AimsThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruption to activities of daily living, which in turn has had a profound impact on the mental wellbeing of the public. An e-guide was designed to provide remote support to the general public through the application of a Behavioural Activation approach. Interactive, brief evidence-based exercises were included in the e-guide, along with mood ratings after each exercise to assess any improvements observed.MethodThe e-guide was designed using the Xerte On- Line Toolkits open source software. Videos and interactive exercises were embedded within the resource, forming part of the brief intervention based on cognitivist and behaviourist principles. Information and further support was also provided for young people and parents. Videos from the public highlighting their experiences during the pandemic were also sourced and included (with consent). A pilot was launched to assess the impact of the e-guide. Participants were recruited from Cardiff University, mental health services and a local charity.ResultThe e-guide was piloted on a sample of volunteers (n = 3), who completed a brief survey after engaging with the resource. Following the results of the pilot, the e-guide was promoted by the university's marketing team and made available to the public. At the 6-month mark, the e-guide had been accessed by 3228 individuals throughout the UK.ConclusionThe e-guide has since been disseminated by support services for young people, places of employment and eduction institutions. The national impact of the e-guide is evidenced from the number of people accessing the resource exceeding 3000. With the long-term effects of the pandemic taking hold, it remains crucial to support the wellbeing of the general public through such initiatives that are administered remotely

Introduction Near-peer blended learning is a method of combining online virtual teaching with traditional face-to-face lectures delivered by senior students. In this study, we wanted to evaluate the student perceptions of this novel method of education and characterise its overall effectiveness. Methods A hybrid Integrated Science and Clinical Examination (ISCE) revision session was hosted simultaneously in-person and online. The session was delivered by fourth-year medical students to over 100 second-year medical students. A survey was sent to students prior to the session to deduce the topics they required most help in. Feedback forms evaluated students’ confidence, satisfaction with the format of the session, and overall student engagement using blended learning with free text responses which recorded individual opinions of students. Tutor perceptions were also obtained using feedback forms that assessed knowledge, confidence, whether they would attend, and teach a hybrid event in the future and their personal preferences on teaching styles. Results The results showed that students had a much better understanding of the content after the session and the format was deemed well-suited for delivering ISCE teaching (p = 0.001). Thematic analysis revealed students preferred a hybrid approach for ISCE teaching considering it catered to a wider audience. Live demonstrations that are not well executed in virtual formats are compensated for with in-person teaching. 96% of participants expressed that the material was aimed at their level due to relatability achieved through near-peer teaching. Three of the four tutors preferred a hybrid method of teaching while one preferred a sole online model. An overall increase in tutors’ knowledge and confidence was seen after the session. Conclusion Overall positive feedback provides evidence that blended learning using near-peer teaching should be utilised by educational institutions with the potential of revolutionising the delivery of medical education in this post-pandemic.

BackgroundDue to the reduced clinical exposure because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed a mentorship scheme to help medical students with their Integrated Structured Clinical Examinations (ISCEs) by providing a combination of near-peer mentorship together with lecture-based teaching on a weekly basis for a 12-week period. Students attended a specialty-focused lecture every Tuesday followed by a small group teaching session organised by their tutor.MethodsStudents' perceptions of ISCEs (confidence, anxiety, and overall performance) were evaluated using 5-point Likert scales while their knowledge of the specialty was assessed using 10 single best answer questions which were distributed via Google® forms at the start and end of each week. In addition, we assessed tutor perceptions of our virtual “OSCEazy” programme.Results72 tutees were enrolled in the programme (mean age: 24.4, female: 77.8%). 88.9% of the participants had not attended any online ISCE teaching prior to this. They preferred in-person ISCE teaching as compared to virtual sessions [median 4.5 (IQR 4-5) vs 3 (IQR 3-4), p<0.0001), respectively]. There was a significant overall increase in knowledge when comparing pre-session and post-session performance [mean 53.7% vs 70.7%, p<0.0001)]. There was a significant increase in student confidence [Confidence: median 3 (IQR:3-4) vs 4 (IQR 3-4), p<0.0001] while no change was seen in the anxiety and perception of their overall performance in an ISCE. [Anxiety: median 3 (IQR 2-4) vs 3 (IQR 3-4), p=0.37, Performance: median 3 (IQR 3-4) vs median 3 (IQR 3-4), p<0.0001]. The tutors reported an increase in their confidence in teaching ISCEs online [median 3 (IQR 2-3.25) vs median 4 (IQR 4-5), p<0.0001)].ConclusionOnline near-peer teaching increases the confidence of both tutees and tutors involved while enhancing the tutees’ knowledge of the specialty. Thus, medical schools should incorporate near-peer teaching in their curriculum to enhance the student learning experience.