Student Peer Review and Self‐Reflection in the Gross Anatomy Laboratory: Identifying Student Perceived Strengths and Areas for Improvement

Abstract

Giving feedback is a skill health professionals need. While uncomfortable, the small group setting in anatomy lab provides an ideal environment for this in regards to professionalism & communication objectives. We examined perceived strengths & weaknesses of allied health students (physician assistant, occupational & physical therapy) in lab. Students provide feedback via evaluative ratings & comments for lab partners & themselves at the course end. Credit is given for completing it in a timely, professional manner & providing comments. Evaluation questions assess communication/collaboration & professionalism domains. Students scored themselves significantly lower than peers on several questions. Narrative comments were thorough, with more emphasis on strengths. For peers, 62% of positive comments were associated with themes involving professional/leadership skills, followed by personal behaviors (26%) & knowledge (12%). Similar results were seen in self‐reflections. Constructively critical comments were more closely distributed between professional/leadership skills (41%), personal behaviors (33%) & knowledge (26%). While similar results were seen in self‐reflections, more students recognized their own knowledge deficiencies. No difference was noted in student comments based on program. While allied health students may find giving peer feedback difficult, it is thorough & insightful.Grant Funding Source: N/A