Facilitators and Barriers in Application of Peer Learning in Clinical Education according to Nursing Students

Peer teaching/learning is an effective educational intervention for students of health sciences in clinical settings. This study explores facilitators and barriers in application of this method in clinical settings. It is a content analysis qualitative study in which the focus group discussion is used for data gathering. Two groups of nursing students (n=15) of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences who were trained through peer education in pediatric or neonatal wards in year 2009, explained about how they experienced peer learning. Analysis of interviews revealed 3 categories of facilitators including type of the job and workload, educational role of the instructor, and students’ characteristics. Also three categories of tension in working environment, trivial supervision of instructor, and competitive performance of students were identified as learning barriers in this method. It may be recommended that teachers brief this method to the students and then start using the method with low workload and less stress to the students and finally keep an eye over its implementation process. Further study in this domain by experts of different fields is recommended.