A Review of Medical School Programs That Train Medical Students as Teachers (MED-SATS)

BACKGROUND: Medical students represent medicine's future teachers. The objective of this literature review was to identify programs teaching medical students how to teach (MED-SATS). SUMMARY: Electronic searches were conducted and identified 39 programs (1966-2005). Students have assumed varied teaching roles: group facilitator, standardized patient, tutor, teaching assistant, standardized learner, course director, and peer teacher. Most participants were 4th-year students. The teaching techniques varied: group sessions, lectures, and individual teaching. To evaluate student teaching, programs used checklists, videotape review, group discussion, observation, examination scores, course grades, self-assessment exercises, and follow-up with residency training programs. CONCLUSIONS: Reports on how students are trained in medical schools to be teachers are limited. Of the programs identified, it is difficult to determine which programs are ongoing. Data on MED-SATS graduates teaching skills as resident and attending teachers are lacking. These issues present some challenges for future study.