Effects of peer learning on nursing students' learning outcomes in electrocardiogram education.

Background: Nurses should have the ability to interpret electrocardiograms (ECGs) quickly and accurately, but their ECG interpretation skills may be suboptimal. The best evidence for effective teaching methods is lacking.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the effects of peer and self-directed individual learning methods on nursing students' learning flow, interpretation skills, and self-confidence in web-based ECG education.

Design: This study employed a nonequivalent control group with a pretest-posttest design.

Settings: This study was conducted at two colleges of nursing in the Republic of Korea.

Participants: Nursing students were conveniently assigned to either a peer learning group (n = 45) or a self-directed individual learning group (n = 51).

Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was used to measure the nursing students' learning flow and self-confidence in ECG rhythm interpretation. ECG interpretation skills were measured using a web-based interpretation skills test. Data were analyzed using a paired t-test and a two-sample t-test.

Results: Nursing students in both groups showed improved learning flow, interpretation skills, and self-confidence after ECG education compared with before learning. However, there were no significant pretest-posttest differences in learning flow, interpretation skills, or self-confidence between the two groups.

Conclusions: Peer learning was as effective as self-directed individual learning in improving nursing students' learning flow, interpretations skills, and self-confidence in web-based education. Nurse educators should educate nursing students to have optimal ECG interpretation abilities, and web-based peer or individual learning are effective education methods.