The Effect of Peer Assisted Learning on Clinical Reasoning in Students of Medicine in Clerkship and Internship Phases in Urology Ward of Yasuj Shahid Beheshti Hospital

Peer assisted learning is a useful educational method in clinical teaching from which students benefit as teachers and learners. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of peer assisted learning on clinical reasoning in students of medicine in clerkship and internship phases in urology ward. Six consecutive groups of clerkship students (N=42) and internship students (N=24) who had simultaneously entered the urology ward were assigned to control and case groups by alphabetical order in groups of four and seven. The first three groups were assigned as the control group and the second three groups were assigned as the case group. Some parts of teacher's duties were undertaken by Interns in the case group and data were collected from pre and posttests results. The data were analyzed using dependent t-test. The mean difference of trainee's scores in domains of information gathering, hypothesis formation, and problem solving showed a statistically significant increase in the case group in comparison with the control group (P<0.05). Peer assisted learning was effective in promoting clinical reasoning skill among training students. Training allows the integration of attitudes, skills and knowledge in teacher and solace in learners. The promotion of student's independence in learning can lead to the improvement of their clinical reasoning skills.