The Teddy Bear Effect: Supplementing Medical Education Through Volunteering

This research demonstrates the efficacy of medical student volunteering programs in improving students' paediatric confidence. Furthermore, it demonstrates students' perceived increase in general healthcare communication skills, which is transferable to all specialties. Of the 187 students who attended a training session, 157 (84%) filled out baseline data surveys. Students were then free to attend TBH sessions over the year. Follow-up surveys were electronically sent to volunteers three times over the year, to assess changes in paediatric confidence among volunteers as TBH involvement increased. Surveys collected data including: number of TBH visits attended, previous paediatric exposure, current paediatric confidence (subjective 1-10 scale), current perceived comfort of children with volunteer (subjective 1-10 scale), as well as direct questions asking if TBH involvement has increased paediatric confidence and healthcare-related communication skills. 41 students who completed baseline data filled out valid surveys at one or more later time points. If volunteers completed multiple follow-up surveys over the year, the last one completed was denoted as TFinal for comparison to TBaseline. Survey responses showed a significant mean increase in paediatric confidence as a result of TBH involvement of 17.65% (see table 1). This remained significant when selecting for only those students currently studying postgraduate medicine (16.72%). Upon further stratification, medical student volunteers who had never participated in a paediatrics rotation reported a larger mean increase in confidence (21.45%). When asked directly, 92% of responders reported an increase in paediatric confidence and 74% reported an increase in their perception of children’s comfort with them. Further, 85% reported an improvement to their general healthcare-related communication skills.