***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: Background Peer-assisted learning has many purported benefits including preparing students as educators , improving communication skills and reducing faculty teaching burden . But comparatively little is known about the effects of teaching on learning outcomes of peer educators in medical education . Methods One hundred and thirty-five first year medical students were r and omly allocated to 11 small groups for the Gastroenterology/Hematology Course at the University of Calgary . For each of 22 sessions , two students were r and omly selected from each group to be peer educators .  Students were surveyed to estimate time spent preparing as peer educator versus group member .  Students completed an end-of-course 94 question multiple choice exam . A paired t-test was used to compare performance on clinical presentations for which students were peer educators to those for which they were not . Results Preparation time increased from a mean ( SD ) of 36 ( 33 ) minutes baseline to 99 ( 60 ) minutes when peer educators ( Cohen 's d = 1.3 ; p < 0.001 ) . The mean score ( SD ) for clinical presentations in which students were peer educators was 80.7 % ( 11.8 ) compared to77.6 % ( 6.9 ) for those which they were not ( d = 0.33 ; p < 0.01 ) . Conclusion Our results suggest that involvement in teaching small group sessions improves medical students ' knowledge acquisition and retention BACKGROUND Medical practitioners have considerable untapped potential to assist patients in stopping smoking . However , marked deficits have been found in the amount and type of training medical practitioners receive in smoking cessation counseling with little attention paid to determination of effective training methods . METHOD A r and omized controlled trial was conducted to examine the relative effectiveness of four different educational programs in teaching smoking cessation skills to 5th-year medical students in an Australian medical school . The four programs comprised : ( a ) a traditional didactic lecture mode ( control group ) , ( b ) audio feedback through the use of audiotaped role plays , ( c ) role plays with peer feedback , and ( d ) video feedback . Students ' smoking cessation intervention skills were assessed prior to training and at the end of term via videotaped interviews with simulated patients . RESULTS Senior medical students demonstrated significantly improved skills in smoking intervention when exposed to any of the educational approaches other than traditional didactic teaching . No overall differences in smoking intervention skills were found between the three experimental training methods . CONCLUSIONS Specific training in smoking cessation techniques is necessary to increase the intervention skills of medical students . Traditional teaching methods are ineffective in developing smoking cessation intervention skills . Enhanced teaching , of an appropriate nature , at undergraduate and postgraduate levels is needed Introduction International interest in peer-teaching and peer-assisted learning ( PAL ) during undergraduate medical programs has grown in recent years , reflected both in literature and in practice . There , remains however , a distinct lack of objective clarity and consensus on the true effectiveness of peer-teaching and its short- and long-term impacts on learning outcomes and clinical practice . Objective To summarize and critically appraise evidence presented on peer-teaching effectiveness and its impact on objective learning outcomes of medical students . Method A literature search was conducted in four electronic data bases . Titles and abstract s were screened and selection was based on strict eligibility criteria after examining full-texts . Two review ers used a st and ard review and analysis framework to independently extract data from each study . Discrepancies in opinions were resolved by discussion in consultation with other review ers . Adapted models of “ Kirkpatrick ’s Levels of Learning ” were used to grade the impact size of study outcomes . Results From 127 potential titles , 41 were obtained as full-texts , and 19 selected after close examination and group deliberation . Fifteen studies focused on  student-learner outcomes  and four on  student-teacher learning outcomes .  Ten studies utilized r and omized allocation and the majority of study participants were self-selected volunteers .  Written examinations and observed clinical evaluations were common study outcome assessment s. Eleven studies provided student-teachers with formal teacher training .  Overall , results suggest that peer-teaching , in highly selective context s , achieves short-term learner outcomes that are comparable with those produced by faculty-based teaching . Furthermore , peer-teaching has beneficial effects on student-teacher learning outcomes . Conclusions Peer-teaching in undergraduate medical programs is comparable to conventional teaching when utilized in selected context s. There is evidence to suggest that participating student-teachers benefit academically and professionally . Long-term effects of peer-teaching during medical school remain poorly understood and future research should aim to address this OBJECTIVE Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the USA and reducing the number of smokers by 50 % is among the goals of the Healthy People 2010 initiative . Despite its importance , few medical students receive formal training in smoking cessation counselling . Motivational interviewing is a patient-centred , but directive , method of counselling that has been found to be more effective than giving brief advice for motivating smokers to quit . We wanted to determine whether using st and ardised patients to teach this skill to Year 3 medical students would be more effective than using student role-plays . METHODS We conducted a r and omised , controlled trial of 93 Year 3 family medicine clerkship students at our medical school between July 2003 and July 2004 . The control group  ( n=46 ) practised motivational interviewing with one another and the intervention group ( n=47 ) practised with st and ardised patients trained in motivational interviewing for smoking cessation . At the end of the study all the students conducted an interview with a different st and ardised patient that was videotaped . The primary outcome was analysis by a trained masked evaluator of the quality of a final videotaped interview using the motivational interviewing treatment integrity code ( MITI ) , which assesses the quality of the interview according to 6 different criteria . RESULTS There was no significant difference between the control and intervention groups in the final analyses of the interviews . CONCLUSIONS According to MITI scores , st and ardised patient role-plays are similar in effectiveness to student role-plays when teaching basic motivational interviewing skills for smoking cessation to Year 3 medical students QUESTION What is the efficacy and acceptability of a peer-assisted learning model compared with a traditional model for paired students in physiotherapy clinical education ? DESIGN Prospect i ve , assessor-blinded , r and omised crossover trial . PARTICIPANTS Twenty-four physiotherapy students in the third year of a 4-year undergraduate degree . INTERVENTION Participants each completed 5 weeks of clinical placement , utilising a peer-assisted learning model ( a st and ardised series of learning activities undertaken by student pairs and educators to facilitate peer interaction using guided strategies ) and a traditional model ( usual clinical supervision and learning activities led by clinical educators supervising pairs of students ) . OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcome measure was student performance , rated on the Assessment of Physiotherapy Practice by a blinded assessor , the supervising clinical educator and by the student in self- assessment . Secondary outcome measures were satisfaction with the teaching and learning experience measured via survey , and statistics on services delivered . RESULTS There were no significant between-group differences in Assessment of Physiotherapy Practice scores as rated by the blinded assessor ( p=0.43 ) , the supervising clinical educator ( p=0.94 ) or the students ( p=0.99 ) . In peer-assisted learning , clinical educators had an extra 6 minutes/day available for non-student-related quality activities ( 95 % CI 1 to 10 ) and students received an additional 0.33 entries/day of written feedback from their educator ( 95 % CI 0.06 to 0.61 ) . Clinical educator satisfaction and student satisfaction were higher with the traditional model . CONCLUSION The peer-assisted learning model trialled in the present study produced similar student performance outcomes when compared with a traditional approach . Peer-assisted learning provided some benefits to educator workload and student feedback , but both educators and students were more satisfied with the traditional model . TRIAL REGISTRATION ACTRN12610000859088 . [ Sevenhuysen S , Skinner EH , Farlie MK , Raitman L , Nickson W , Keating JL , Maloney S , Molloy E , Haines TP ( 2014 ) Educators and students prefer traditional clinical education to a peer-assisted learning model , despite similar student performance outcomes : a r and omised trial . Journal of Physiotherapy60 : 209 - 216 ] Purpose To assess the use of  peer-assisted learning ( PAL ) of complex manipulative motor skills with respect to gender in medical students . Methods In 2007–2010 , 292 students in their 3rd and 4th years of medical school were r and omly assigned to two groups [ Staff group ( SG ) , PAL group ( PG ) ] led by either staff tutors or student-teachers ( ST ) . The students were taught bimanual practical and diagnostic skills ( course education module of eight separate lessons ) as well as a general introduction to the theory of spinal manipulative therapy . In addition to qualitative data collection ( Likert scale ) , evaluation was performed using a multiple-choice question naire in addition to an objective structured clinical examination ( OSCE ) . Results Complex motor skills as well as palpatory diagnostic competencies could in fact be better taught through professionals than through ST ( manipulative OSCE grade s/diagnostic OSCE score ; SG vs. PG ; male : P = 0.017/P < 0.001 , female : P < 0.001/P < 0.001 ) . The registration of theoretical knowledge showed equal results in students taught by staff or ST . In both teaching groups ( SG : n = 147 , PG : n = 145 ) , no significant differences were observed between male and female students in matters of manipulative skills or theoretical knowledge . Diagnostic competencies were better in females than in males in the staff group ( P = 0.041 ) Overall , students were more satisfied with the environment provided by professional teachers than by ST , though male students regarded the PAL system more suspiciously than their female counterparts . Conclusions The peer-assisted learning system does not seem to be generally qualified to transfer such complex spatiotemporal dem and s as spinal manipulative procedures Background Focused emergency echocardiography performed by non-cardiologists has been shown to be feasible and effective in emergency situations . During resuscitation a short focused emergency echocardiography has been shown to narrow down potential differential diagnoses and to improve patient survival . Quite a large proportion of physicians are eligible to learn focused emergency echocardiography . Training in focused emergency echocardiography usually comprises a lecture , h and s-on trainings in very small groups , and a practice phase . There is a shortage of experienced echocardiographers who can supervise the second step , the h and s-on training . We thus investigated whether student tutors can perform the h and s-on training for focused emergency echocardiography . Methods A total of 30 volunteer 4th and 5th year students were r and omly assigned to a twelve-hour basic echocardiography course comprising a lecture followed by a h and s-on training in small groups taught either by an expert cardiographer ( EC ) or by a student tutor ( ST ) . Using a pre-post- design , the students were evaluated by an OSCE . The students had to generate two still frames with the apical five-chamber view and the parasternal long axis in five minutes and to correctly mark twelve anatomical cardiac structures . Two blinded expert cardiographers rated the students ’ performance using a st and ardized checklist . Students could achieve a maximum of 25 points . Results Both groups showed significant improvement after the training ( p < .0001 ) . In the group taught by EC the average increased from 2.3±3.4 to 17.1±3.0 points , and in the group taught by ST from 2.7±3.0 to 13.9±2.7 points . The difference in improvement between the groups was also significant ( p = .03 ) . Conclusions H and s-on training by student tutors led to a significant gain in echocardiography skills , although inferior to teaching by an expert cardiographer Background To assess the student perspective on acceptability , realism , and perceived effect of communication training with peer role play ( RP ) and st and ardised patients ( SP ) . Methods 69 prefinal year students from a large German medical faculty were r and omly assigned to one of two groups receiving communication training with RP ( N = 34 ) or SP ( N = 35 ) in the course of their paediatric rotation . In both groups , training addressed major medical and communication problems encountered in the exploration and counselling of parents of sick children .  Acceptability and realism of the training as well as perceived effects and applicability for future parent-physician encounters were assessed using six-point Likert scales . Results Both forms of training were highly accepted ( RP 5.32 ± .41 , SP 5.51 ± .44 , n.s . ; 6 = very good , 1 = very poor ) and perceived to be highly realistic ( RP 5.60 ± .38 , SP 5.53 ± .36 , n.s . ; 6 = highly realistic , 1 = unrealistic ) . Regarding perceived effects , participation was seen to be significantly more worthwhile in the SP group ( RP 5.17 ± .37 , SP 5.50 ± .43 ; p < .003 ; 6 = totally agree , 1 = do n't agree at all ) . Both training methods were perceived as useful for training communication skills ( RP 5.01 ± .68 , SP 5.34 ± .47 ; 6 = totally agree ; 1 = do n't agree at all ) and were considered to be moderately applicable for future parent-physician encounters ( RP 4.29 ± 1.08 , SP 5.00 ± .89 ; 6 = well prepared , 1 = unprepared ) , with usefulness and applicability both being rated higher in 
    Output:
    
Caveats to the use of PAL emerged , and guidelines for the use of PAL were perceived as useful .
Many student-related benefits of PAL were identified .
PAL contributes to the development of crucial skills required for a doctor in the workplace .
Vertical integration of learning and teaching skills across the curriculum and tools such as feedback checklists may be required for successful PAL in the clinical environment .