title: A new first-year course designed and taught by a senior medical student.
abstract: Senior medical students have been utilized at some institutions in limited teaching roles for first-year medical students. The authors describe a pilot program in which a motivated senior medical student completely designed and taught an original course to a group of first-year students in academic year 2000-01. The 16-hour course was offered as a selective for first-year students. This course concentrated on clinically-focused topics, evidence-based medicine, and physical examination skills. Evaluations from the students in the course, as well as from a faculty advisor, were uniformly positive. This unique course filled an existing need in the first-year curriculum, and could be permanently integrated in various settings. This novel approach of a senior medical student's developing and teaching an entire first-year course benefited both the senior and first-year students and could be implemented at other institutions using similar methods or a number of suggested variations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of California at San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: S Andrew
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Josephson
authors.forename: Alison J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Whelan
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D016730:Program Development / Q000379:methods; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration; D013337:Students, Medical; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration*