Nursing Peer Review 101

The American Nurses Association created a set of Peer Review Guidelines in 1988. Since then, these guidelines have helped nurses around the country make sure they are following proper regulations for patient care and safety. When you earn your RN to BSN degree at Grand Canyon University, you will gain new skills that can help you understand and execute these reviews in the best possible way. Take a closer look at the nursing peer review process:

Peer reviews are conducted by staff of the same rank.

A peer review is truly a peer review—one performed by a fellow nurse and not someone of a higher ranking. This means that floor nurses are responsible for reviewing other floor nurses, while advanced practice nurses are responsible for reviewing other advanced practice nurses. Because of this, the peer review process is beneficial for both the review subject and the reviewer.

Peer reviews focus on patient outcomes.

The nursing peer review process is practice-focused, which means that it is concerned with outcomes for patients. Nurses review one another to ensure that they are following proper standards for caring for patients.

The peer review process is continuous.

Instead of waiting for an end-of-the-year evaluation, nursing peer reviews happen continuously throughout the year. This means that reviewers can make their subjects aware of any errors or problems they notice right away.

Peer reviews should encourage constant learning.

The nursing peer review process is not meant to make nurses feel inadequate, but instead, encourage all nurses to strive to always be learning. All nurses benefit when new information about patient care is discovered, so it is important for nurses to learn from any notes or concerns addressed during their reviews.

Nurses know who is performing their review.

In other industries, reviews may be performed anonymously, and the subject of the review only gets to see a copy of the report. When it comes to nursing peer reviews, nurses are fully aware of who will be performing their review. This allows there to be an open conversation between the subject and the reviewer so they can talk about strengths, weaknesses and concerns. Non-anonymous peer reviews can be beneficial for building strong working relationships between nurses.

Nurses’ skills and ranks are considered during the review process.

Not all nurses have the same skills and qualifications, which is an important element that is taken into consideration during all peer reviews. Nurses are held to standards determined by their current qualifications, and the review process changes and grows as nurses further their health care careers.

The RN to BSN degree program at Grand Canyon University can help registered nurses take on more responsibilities in the health care field. If you’re ready to advance your nursing career, then you can visit the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions’ website to learn more about this program, or get started by clicking on the Request More Information button on this page.