Peer Education Trainings – HelMSIC Greece

Name of the activity: Peer Education Trainings

Country/NMO: HelMSIC Greece

Program: Teaching Medical Skills

Contact information: contact medic[email protected] to get in touch with the Activity Coordinator

Type of the activity: Continuous Activity

Category: Capacity Building

Focus area: Soft Skills for medical practitioners

Sustainable Development Goals addressed: GOAL 4: QUALITY EDUCATION

General description:

The activity consists of peer education trainings about Breaking Bad News, Communication Skills and Interprofessional Collaboration. The topics have been decided and their content has been structured with the support of faculty members and soft skills trainers, aiming for the best possible response to the needs of medical students in Greece. Each training will take place as part of a clinical subject and will be delivered by soft skills trainers and faculty members of the respective clinic.

Problem statement:

In recent decades, it is all recognized that soft skills are an important part of the patient’s holistic care as they affect not only his psychological state but also the course of his disease. For this reason they play an important role in health education. In Greece, soft skills are not part of the curriculum and are not studied at all by medical students. The Peer Education Trainings come to deal with this very problem.

Target groups:

Medical students

Beneficiaries:

General population, Medical students

Objectives:

1. To bring medical students in touch with selected soft skills through peer education methods (Breaking Bad News, Interprofessional Collaboration, Communication skills for behavioural change)
   2. To gain soft skills that they will use in their clinical exercise
   3. To bring both medical students and teachers in contact with the methods of peer education so that they understand the educational benefits of peer education
   4. To integrate soft skills in the Medical Education of students (long term goal)

Indicators of Success:

1. 60% of people who fill out the evaluation form immediately after the program will rate at least 4 – on a scale of 1 to 5 –
   a. That they know the steps for breaking bad news
   b. That they recognize the value of communication skills in patient care
   c. That they know the value of interprofessional collaboration

   2. 60% of people completing the evaluation form after one month will rate at least 4 that they have used the specific soft skills in their clinical practice

   3. Of the people completing the evaluation form after one month
   a. 50% will rate at least 4 that they identified the need for the specific soft skills in their clinical practice
   b. 70% will rate the methods used as helpful in understanding the content
   c. 90% will answer positively to the question “Have you understood what peer education means”

   To carry out the program within the clinical courses in 70% of the Medical Schools in Greece

Methodology:

The topics have been decided in collaboration with HelMSIC’s National Team and professional Trainers, in a post graduate training workshop based on criterias like: connection with clinical practice and medical reality situation in Greece, measurable outcome, trainer expertise.
Regarding each agenda subject, a scientific manager (faculty member with experience in the respective subject) was approached and provided us with sources and input for the agenda creation
The design of each agenda was undertaken by a trainer together with an alumnus HelMSIC trainer with the professional’s input
Partnerships with Faculty Members for the inclusion in clinical courses’ curriculum were undertaken locally by trainers and LOMEs with a proposed alignment of clinics to trainings made by the NOME
Successful participation of similar target groups in the following years will provide us with evidence that can push advocacy activities for the inclusion of soft skills in Medical education.

Plans for evaluation:

To determine the impact of the program on participants, the following methods are used:
Questionnaires with questions regarding their knowledge immediately before and immediately after the program, as well as after a period of one month, in order to draw safe conclusions about what they obtained.

External collaborations:

Faculty members responsible for the structure and internal training, faculty members responsible for the realization of the trainings in the framework of the clinical courses