Effective feedback: an indispensable tool for improvement in quality of medical education

Abstract

Feedback in medical education is an integral and important constituent of teaching as it encourages and enhances the learners' knowledge, skills and professional performance. Feedback has to be delivered in an appropriate setting; it should focus on the performance and not on the individual; should be clear and specific; delivered in non-judgmental language; should emphasize positive aspects; be descriptive rather than evaluative; and should suggest measures for improvement. An extensive search of all materials related to the topic was made using library sources including Pubmed, Medline and Google Scholar. Keywords used in the search include feedback, constructivism and medical education. Constructive feedback is defined as the act of giving information to a trainee through the description of his/her performance in the observed situation. It emphasizes the strengths of the session and areas which require improvement. The processes of giving and receiving feedback are skills that can be acquired only with practice. To integrate the concept of feedback in medical education, training of the trainers pertaining to techniques of adult learning and how to give feedback to trainees are foremost requirements. Interactive feedback is indispensable in bringing about professional development and overall improvement in doctors.