Transition From Peer Review to Peer Learning: Experience in a Radiology Department

Peer learning on a shoe string: success of a distributive model for peer learning in a community radiology practice

“…2). These results are similar to results reported by Donnelly et al whose peer learning system was strongly considered an improvement over the group's prior peer review process; peer learning compared to peer review was rated as contributing more important learning, better serving the goals of ongoing professional practice evaluations (OPPE), driving increased improvement in departmental performance, and better helping individuals improve their practice [9]. Another survey by Sharpe et al of group members who had undergone the transition from peer review to peer learning also found very positive attitudes toward the educational value and benefits to the group's culture, and demonstrated that group members strongly preferred peer learning to peer review [4].…”

“…Other reports about peer learning programs describe use of elaborate information technology systems that are either custom built by the institution [7,8] or part of an existing software package previously purchased [9]. One article does describe a method to modify the American College of Radiology's RADPEER interface to support peer learning, and so if a group has already purchased RADPEER, this modification could be made without additional software cost to the group, but would likely require IT personnel time to support the RADPEER modification and to upkeep the system [4].…”

“…Despite initial enthusiasm within the radiology community, peer review faltered in its ability to generate meaningful performance data; multiple studies have demonstrated the very low number of discrepancies and learning opportunities that peer review systems have identified [3,4,[6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…Initial descriptions of peer learning programs have employed a model of centralized case collection and curation, and have been proposed as a replacement for peer review [2,4,9]. This model requires one person or a group of people to review all of the submitted cases, and prepare the cases for presentation at the peer learning conference.…”

Creating a Radiology Quality and Safety Program: Principles and Pitfalls

“…Peer learning feedback focuses on learning opportunities and is not used in performance evaluations (33)(34)(35)(36)(37). Initial experiences with peer learning models show a significant increase in the numbers of identified and shared learning opportunities compared with those of the traditional scored peer review models (38).…”