Lightning Talk

Faculty Assessment of Clinical Students’ Peer-to-peer Feedback

Tuesday, September 16, 2025, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm CDT
peer feedbackclinical experienceinterprofessional learning

Duke University Schools of Medicine and Nursing developed an interprofessional student clinical experience which brings together students and faculty from the doctor of allopathy (MD), accelerated bachelors of science in nursing (ABSN), nurse practitioner (NP), physician assistant (PA), and doctor of physical therapy (DPT) programs to provide interprofessional (IP) and collaborative care to patients presenting to the Duke emergency department (ED). The IP experience focuses on team-based, hands-on patient care as well as learning from, with, and about each of the professions. At the end of the clinical session, the students are asked to perform a 360 group debrief. Each student was first asked to self-reflect on
demonstrated strengths and areas of improvement. Then, they provided similar feedback to their peers. Given that communication is one of the Interprofessional Education Collaborate (IPEC) core competencies the faculty leading the session were asked to evaluate both the student's delivery of feedback and the content of the feedback provided. Research has suggested that the most effective feedback is nonjudgmental, specific and contains actionable suggestions. During the 2024-2025 academic year, the MD, PA, and NP faculty completed an end of session Qualtrics survey for 276 MD, PA, and NP students which included the question, "During the end-of-session debrief, how would you characterize the student's feedback that they provided to the group? ". Faculty reported that 50% of students (n = 139) provided both reinforcing and constructive feedback that included specific examples and actionable suggestions. An additional 32% (n = 89) offered both types of feedback; however, their comments lacked specificity or were not entirely actionable. A smaller portion of students provided only one type of generalized feedback, with 4% (n = 11) offering reinforcing feedback and 3% (n = 8) offering constructive feedback. Notably, 11% of students (n = 29) did not actively participate in providing feedback to their peers during the debrief. The students that did not actively participate were from across the 3 professions and included both junior and senior learners. During this academic term, students did not receive instruction on providing peer-to-peer feedback. Introducing
targeted education on effective feedback --such as preparatory materials prior to the interprofessional education (IPE) session-- may support student comfort in providing feedback and development of strong interprofessional communication skills.