Can gynaecology teaching associates provide high quality effective training for medical students in the United Kingdom? Comparative study

Abstract

Objectives: To train laywomen to become professional patients in order to teach medical students speculum and bimanual examination, to assess their effectiveness in this role, and to incorporate this method of teaching into the undergraduate curriculum of a medical school in the United Kingdom.

Design: Comparative study.

Setting: Guy's, King's, and St Thomas's School of Medicine, London.

Participants: 44 medical students trained by gynaecology teaching associates; 48 control students.

Main outcome measure: Skills in pelvic examination.

Results: Six laywomen were recruited and all successfully graduated to become gynaecology teaching associates. At assessment 1, in the third week of the reproductive and sexual health block, the mean score achieved by students trained by gynaecology teaching associates was 155, compared with 104 for control group students (difference in mean scores 51 (95% confidence interval 41 to 61), P < 0.001). Similar results were obtained at assessment 2, at the end of the attachment-the mean score for trained students was 148, compared with a mean score of 114 for control group students (difference in mean scores 34 (21 to 46), P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Laywomen can be trained to teach pelvic examination to medical students in the United Kingdom. Students who receive this training have better skills than students who receive the traditional training alone.