The Tutor Guide: a hidden gem in tutor facilitated, small group, case based learning in a medical school

Since its inception 40 years ago, SIU‐SOM has helped pioneer efforts to improve medical student education. The core feature of our curriculum (C2K, revised and universally applied in FY 2000) is problem based, small group, tutor‐facilitated learning. C2K has several attributes and accomplishments (see Clough et al., Acad. Med. 79:1073, 2004) and serves to enhance student proficiency on USMLE. One component has proven to be critical, but not well recognized beyond its routine utility. The Tutor Guide (TG), designed for tutors only, is a case‐by‐case catalog of information across the basic and clinical sciences that students are to acquire from each patient. The TG is essential to inform faculty tutors about the case contents, diagnoses, differential hypotheses, learning issues to be developed and depth to take them, recommended resources to use, red herrings to avoid, etc. The TG contains questions designed to probe students regarding the myriad of learning issues developed with each patient presentation. The TG is an essential resource to help tutors facilitate medical students' learning as they encounter each new case. Utilization of such a tool could help other case‐based, tutor‐facilitated programs be more effective and consistent between groups. Example TGs in use at SIU‐SOM will be highlighted and compared.