Final-Year Undergraduate Medical Students' Feedback-Seeking Behaviour in Primary and Secondary Healthcare Centre Placement

Abstract

Feedback is essential in medical education. Constructive feedback provision from teachers and learners receiving and seeking feedback themselves are both important, particularly in clinical clerkships where students interact with authentic clinical settings. This study aims to explore the feedback-seeking behaviour of final-year undergraduate medical students in primary and secondary healthcare centres and to determine factors influencing this behaviour. A qualitative phenomenology study design was used involving final-year undergraduate medical students at the Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia. A maximum variation sampling approach, considering gender and healthcare centre placement, was conducted. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews until data saturation was reached. Data was then analysed using a thematic analysis approach. A total of 10 (4 males, 6 females) students were interviewed. Students displayed acts of both seeking and not seeking feedback in clinical learning environments in primary and secondary healthcare centres. Acts of seeking feedback included asking for feedback on performance when it was not provided, taking the initiative to seek feedback in life-saving situations, confirming feedback, clarifying supervisors' reasoning and indirect feedback-seeking methods. Acts of not seeking feedback included not seeking further feedback, not clarifying supervisors' reasoning and not seeking feedback when it was not provided. This study found that supervisor, student and environmental factors may influence feedback-seeking behaviour. This study provides further insights on feedback-seeking behaviour, which must be considered in workplace-based clinical learning environments.