Feedback serves as the cornerstone of growth and improvement in any educational setting, and its significance is magnified when patient care is involved. Here’s why feedback is essential in shaping the future of healthcare professionals:

  1. Enhanced Learning Outcomes: Feedback provides learners with valuable insights into their strengths and areas for improvement. By receiving timely and specific feedback, students can better understand their performance, identify gaps in knowledge or skills, and take targeted actions to enhance their learning outcomes.
  2. Performance Improvement: In healthcare, the ability to perform effectively under pressure is paramount. Constructive feedback enables learners to refine their clinical skills, communication abilities, and decision-making processes. Through ongoing feedback loops, students can iteratively improve their performance, leading to higher levels of competency and confidence.
  3. Patient Safety and Quality of Care: The ultimate goal of health professions education is to produce competent and compassionate healthcare professionals who prioritize patient safety and deliver high-quality care. Feedback plays a crucial role in fostering a culture of accountability, where students learn to recognize and address errors, refine their clinical judgment, and uphold the highest standards of patient care.
  4. Professional Development: Feedback is not only about pointing out areas of weakness but also about recognizing and reinforcing strengths. By receiving acknowledgment for their achievements and contributions, learners are motivated to continue striving for excellence. Additionally, constructive feedback helps students develop essential professional competencies such as self-reflection, adaptability, and resilience, which are critical for long-term success in their careers. 
  5. Promotion of Reflective Practice: Reflection is a cornerstone of professional growth in healthcare. Feedback encourages learners to reflect critically on their experiences, decisions, and interactions with patients and colleagues. Through reflective practice, students deepen their understanding of complex clinical scenarios, cultivate empathy, and develop a deeper sense of professionalism.
  6. Fostering Effective Communication: Effective communication is central to patient care and interprofessional collaboration. Feedback provides opportunities for students to practice giving and receiving feedback, honing their communication skills in the process. By learning to communicate constructively and respectfully, healthcare professionals can navigate challenging situations with confidence and empathy.

While indispensable to health professions education, feedback is often felt to be a difficult process for trainees and faculty alike. Trainees find it difficult to receive feedback and empathetic feedback givers often find it difficult to provide feedback. Reem Alansari (HPEd Doctoral Graduate 2024), Pei-Wen Lim (HPEd Masters Graduate 202X), and Professors Janice Palaganas and Subha Ramani explored the reasons why feedback is often felt to be difficult in their article, “What do you think of when you hear the word, ‘Feedback’?”

Professors Janice Palaganas and Roger Edwards provide tips on achieving effective feedback conversations in their publication, “Six Common Pitfalls in Feedback Conversations.”  

By embracing feedback as a catalyst for growth and learning, educators can drive continuous improvement, promote patient safety, and nurture the development of competent and compassionate healthcare professionals. Formal training in feedback enables educators and clinicians to become more effective in this core competency for improving training and patient outcomes.