Feedback in Clinical Medical Education: Then vs. Now

Abstract

Feedback is a challenging skill in clinical medical education and is critical to student learning and patient safety/outcomes. At the 40th anniversary of Dr. Jack Ende’s seminal paper on feedback, we ask what approaches and concepts have withstood the test of time and how the conversation on feedback has evolved for modern-day medical education. To answer this question, we performed a qualitative study, comparing text related to feedback in Dr. Ende’s historic 1983 article “Feedback in Clinical Medical Education” to 24 transcribed interviews of clinician-educators on the Teaching in Medicine podcast in 2020. We conducted a thematic analysis of the two data sets. In the 1980s, the case for feedback was just emerging with a focus on the lack of feedback given. Current conversations have gained complexity with new considerations given to bidirectional feedback and feedback in the context of unique settings. Certain concepts persist, with the importance of a safe learning environment at the forefront of discussions both then and now.