Giving effective feedback to psychiatric trainees

Abstract

Feedback is an essential part of the learning process. Feedback can be positive or negative, constructive or destructive, minimal or in depth. It must always occur and should never be ignored. The role of effective feedback is critical in the modern postgraduate medical educational process in the UK, with its emphasis on competency-based curricula and workplace-based assessment. Feedback is not new in medical education and has been shown in research to be effective in bringing about change, particularly improvement in clinical performance. There are clear principles and features of good and bad feedback and these are highlighted, along with descriptions of models for use in daily practice.