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Weekly Q&A: Peer review processes

HCPro's Weekly Update on the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®*, July 26, 2005

This week, a reader looks for examples of formal and informal peer-review processes. Read the response below from our advisor, Janet Cahill, RN, BSN, MBA, director of professional practice and development and ANCC Magnet Recognition Program® coordinator at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) in Chicago, IL.

Q: I am looking for examples for a formal and informal peer review process. Can you share your process(es)?

At Northwestern Memorial Hospital, we developed a few peer-review processes for nurses with input from our nursing education committee. For one example, direct-care RNs are involved in formal peer review as part of their annual competency evaluations. The nurses observe each other performing various competencies and provide written evaluations/feedback to their peers. Another formal review process relates to nursing scholarship. Each year, direct-care RNs have an opportunity to apply for a Chapman scholarship, which provides funding for a nursing research- or evidence based practice-project. The nursing-research committee, which is staff-nurse driven, reviews the applications and they decide who receives the scholarships.

An example of an informal peer review process is for nurses who are novice in the area of publication. They have an opportunity to submit their articles to nurses who have been successful in this area for review and critique. This process has enabled nurses to publish articles in peer-reviewed nursing journals. Another example of informal peer review includes the involvement of direct-care RNs in quality, pain, blood, or other regulatory audits. They share the information they collect from these audits to their unit managers and their peers.

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