Specific Detailed Information
Feedback is useless unless it is specific
Question 1:
What is the most essential element of SPECIFIC feedback?
You must TAKE NOTES! If the situation warrants, you may want to warn the learner what you are doing, since it is not a common behavior.
There are so many things to keep track of for meaningful feedback to happen!
-what rotations a learner has already completed
-learner's year of training, any recent absences or interruptions
-what a learner's main area of interest is
-how long a learner has been on the current rotation
As a giver of feedback, you need to pay close attention to everything that happens and be vigilant, like viewing from the top of a tower
Specific Detailed Information
No one can remember specific details in any situation without taking notes.
Question 2:
Is a case conference a good opportunity to give learners feedback?
Usually NOT (even though it seems like it should be, there are very difficult limitations)
If you are GIVING the conference, particularly if it is interactive and trainees are taking cases, you are generally far too busy to keep track of exactly what each participant said, and what advice you would like to give them.
It is virtually impossible to remember much, other than those cases where a trainee did very well or very poorly, and even that information is not useful without details.
In the midst of giving a conference (particularly an interactive one, which takes a lot of focus), it is easy to loose track of what each participant says--they all start to look and sound alike, like blades of grass in a marsh.
Specific Detailed Information
Example of note-taking to provide detailed and specific feedback
Question 3:
How can you make feedback on student presentations more useful?
take it seriously pay attention to details not just facts but style, clarity, creativity
During medical student Radiology rotations, each would give a case presentation on something interesting they saw during the month--
I would usually attend all of these presentations and wanted to make the feedback I gave more detailed
TAKE NOTES!
Focus on details of slide design, animations, speaking style--as if the presentation were at a national meeting
Not just "Student XX gave a nice presentation on lymphoma" but at least a paragraph on what was most and least effective
Reflect carefully on what was presented, looking for ways to improve.
