MTP7.08 Outcome of the introduction of a small group teaching for third year medical students during general surgical placements and students’ satisfaction of the teaching sessions

Aim There are many academic publications regarding the effectiveness of small group teaching in medical education. Small group teaching was evaluated positively by the students due to the ease of discussion with the tutor and better student-teacher interaction. Therefore, a new one-hour small group teaching session was added to the weekly timetable for year 3 medical students during their surgery rotations. Methods General surgery related topics, such as small and large bowel obstruction, volvulus, different colorectal surgical procedures were taught during those teaching sessions in the form of case-based discussion and role play for history taking practice. Teaching feedback regarding the usefulness of the sessions, whether the objections were identified and met, students’ confidence in knowledge regarding the topic before and after teaching and other specific suggestion about the teachings were as in the feedback from. Results Out of 22 responses, 100% think the sessions were useful, 95.5% consider objectives of the sessions were identified and met. 90.9% have pre-teaching confidence of the topics below 6 (1 =no at all confident, 10 = very confident) and 86.4% have post-teaching confidence of the topics above 6. Students particularly enjoyed the teaching because those were interactive, with clear explanations and more time with the tutor for different questions and chances to practice role play questions. Conclusions Overall, students’ satisfaction and confidence about the topics pre- and post-teaching sessions are significantly improved, and students appreciate the importance of small group teaching sessions with case-based discussions.