Learning in clinical practice: the importance of peers

Aim To explore whether nursing students learn from each other and,if so, how, when and where this learning takes place.Method An interpretive ethnographic qualitative research study of agroup of pre-registration nursing students (n=15). Participantobservation was the primary tool of data collection. Students gavetheir consent to be observed in classroom and clinical environmentsthroughout the three years of the pre-registration programme. Datatook the form of audio-taped conversations with and betweenstudents together with field notes. A thematic analysis wasundertaken to reveal the student experience of peer learning.Findings The importance of friendships to clinical learning forstudents was apparent in three respects: friendships and learning inclinical practice, survival skills and developing clinical skills. Thestudents talked about their friendships being strong and enduringand enabling learning to take place. The students used their peersas a resource to pass on survival skills and help each other to learnhow to be a nurse. Students also taught each other a variety ofclinical skills. Traditional notions of seniority were challengedbecause the students appeared more concerned with what theirpeers had experienced.Conclusion Friendships were an important aspect of peer learning forthe students in this study and, more importantly, friendship fosteredlearning. Peer learning in clinical practice is an informal andunderestimated aspect of clinical learning and is valued by students