Giving and Receiving Peer Feedback: Effect on Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Knowledge Acquisition and Information Retention? An Exploratory Study

Giving and Receiving Peer Feedback: Effect on Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Knowledge Acquisition and Information Retention? An Exploratory Study

Poster - Applied

Peer feedback has been used in the academic setting to enhance learning in students. It is referred to as the process of giving and receiving feedback from one student to another of the same academic level. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of giving and receiving peer feedback as perceived by undergraduate sophomore nursing students at a large faith-based university in the northeast U.S. A descriptive cross-sectional design was utilized to collect data using a pre-survey, followed by peer review of videos of five physical assessment skills by 30 students. The students completed a reflection after reviewing each skill and a post-survey at the end of all skills. Comparison of the pre-intervention scores with post-intervention scores using t-tests indicated that giving feedback helps students retain information while also enjoying the process of participating in peer feedback. Using peer feedback regularly in classes early on in schooling may increase the comfort level of the students to engage in the process. Categories of skill acquisition, knowledge attainment, and comfort in critiquing peers showed significant improvement based on the results of the study. This process is vital to improving nursing students’ learning and nursing practice as students transition to the professional environment. The skills learned while implementing peer feedback can be translated into enhanced leadership in clinical practice to impact patient safety and advocacy.