Educator workshop - 2023 - November

The workshop can contribute to one hour of continuous professional development (CPD) in Medical Education.  This page contains a summary of our learning. 

Future dates: The Aims of the monthly Educator workshops 

Previous workshop Educator workshop 2023-October  - student-paced learning 

How might we enable feedback giving and receiving in the interprofessional context of primary care?

Interprofessional feedback in primary care

Interprofessional feedback is a critical part of primary care, where different health professionals work together to care for patients and learn from each other. At a recent workshop on interprofessional feedback, tutors shared their stories and experiences of giving and receiving feedback from other professionals, such as nurses, pharmacists, and doctors. They also discussed the challenges and opportunities of interprofessional feedback, such as power dynamics, the feedback gap, and induction.

Interprofessional feedback:

• Building a trustful space: create a safe space where learners and educators trust each other and appreciate different skill sets.

• Prepare students for feedback by reminding them of the expertise of other staff and the benefits of feedback for their learning and development.

• Encourage students to be curious and seek feedback from a wider group of experts.

• Involve other professionals in giving feedback and create an inclusive environment where feedback is not a judgment but a developmental element.

• Embed a culture of feedback in the practice and have good leadership to drive it.

Some learning areas for further exploration include:

• How to integrate pharmacists into teaching and empower them and students.

• How to address the compartmentalisation of education and the counter-signing of skills by doctors.

• How to assess what level of feedback students want and need.

• How to avoid killing with kindness, colluding, and ruinous empathy, which are forms of unhelpful feedback that do not lead to improvement.

The workshop also used some metaphors to illustrate their points:

• Wearing only underwear and walking around the wards: This was used by a nurse to teach a medical student about empathy for the patients.

• Walking through the orchard and picking the best fruits: This was used to describe how students can learn from different professionals with different expertise.

• Sir Lancelot Spratt: This was used to contrast the current work with the previous work of doctors, who used to be more authoritative and less collaborative.

• Feedback is a journey that starts with induction. Preparing the groundwork and making the placement safe ensures feedback is effective.

Understanding Feedback for Learners in Interprofessional Settings: A Scoping Review.

Summary 

• Interprofessional feedback: A scoping review of how health professions’ learners give and receive feedback in an interprofessional context for learning. Interprofessional feedback is important for quality patient care and effective collaboration.

• Scoping review methodology: A search strategy was developed and conducted in Ovid MEDLINE to identify relevant articles. Data extraction and analysis were performed to determine the study details, objectives, population, methodology and outcomes of the articles.

• Key concepts from the literature: Four key concepts emerged from the data: 

  1. issues with the feedback process and the need for training; 

  2. the perception of feedback providers, affecting how the feedback is utilized;

  3. professions of the feedback providers, affecting the feedback process; and 

  4. learners’ own attitude toward feedback, affecting the feedback process.

• Implications and limitations: The findings suggest that feedback literacy, learner’s perception and attitude, and interprofessional relationship are important factors for effective feedback. More research is needed to address the barriers and gaps in interprofessional feedback. 

References 

Cantillon, P. and Sargeant, J. (2008). Giving feedback in clinical settings. BMJ, [online] 337(nov10 2), pp.a1961–a1961. doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.a1961. 

Coelho, V., Scott, A.F., Elif Bilgiç, Keuhl, A. and Sibbald, M. (2022). Understanding Feedback for Learners in Interprofessional Settings: A Scoping Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, [online] 19(17), pp.10732–10732. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710732.