A step ahead: teaching undergraduate students to be peer teachers

Nurses have a responsibility to share knowledge with others. However, many are reluctant to undertake teaching, feeling unprepared for the responsibility. With this in mind, a semester-long compulsory core unit was designed and implemented in 2009 to equip final year students with knowledge and skills to enable facilitation of teaching and learning in practice. As part of the summative assessment, third (final) year students taught vital signs in first year skills laboratories. To evaluate the strategy, the Peer Teaching Experience Questionnaire (adapted from Iwasiw and Goldenberg, 1993) was administered to third year students and Clinical Teaching Preference Questionnaire (Iwasiw and Goldenberg, 1993) to first years. Focus groups were conducted with third year volunteers to explore issues in greater detail. One hundred and five (75%) third year and 112 (52%) first year students completed questionnaires. In addition, 11 third year students participated in a focus group. Overall, third year students reported increased confidence in their knowledge and teaching abilities, reflected on their own learning and found the experience rewarding, acquiring skills they considered would be helpful in graduate years. Many suggested there should be more opportunities for such types of learning and interaction. First year students reported feeling comfortable learning skills with senior peers, as well as being able to learn from their experiences. Overall, both groups recognised strongly that teaching was part of nurses' roles.