What are characteristics of a good feedback?
FEEDBACK SHOULD BE...
Specific
"Good job!" "That was ok!" "That was poor" ---These are examples of feedback but not specific enough. Specific is stating what makes the performance good, ok and poor. These are the details that you would want to deliver. "That was a good session, because you were able to complete most of the tasks except for one.".
Accurate
Make sure that you point out what was actually observed and demonstrated and discuss the quality of that performance.
Objective
Feedback should be based on subjective or personal preferences.
Student clinician situation:
"I don't like the way you handled the patient." This seems personal and has no basis. Instead..."In what ways could you gain the patient's trust?" OR "Establishing rapport and trust at the beginning of the session could have been a better option to ensure cooperation of the patient".
Timely
This relates to our previous discussion on when during the learning process do you conduct feedback. You may do a voice-over during patient care or immediately after the performance. Feedback allows the learner to correct behaviors; make sure that this is given before the learner encounters a similar activity in the future.
Usable
The feedback that is given to the learner should be something that is meaningful, practical and feasible. Consider this feedback...
"I noticed that whenever you stand, you lean heavily on your right side. You have to make sure that when you stand you straighten up. It might help if you look at the mirror".
Consider the following:
a) does the patient know why it is important to be standing straight despite the fact that he is functional already.
b) one is not in front of the mirror all the time.
c) does the patient have a mirror.
Just be careful that you have a good understanding and perspective of the learner when you give feedback.
Desired by receiver
This is important, especially in an educational setting. There may be students who are not willing to receive feedback and if this is the case then giving feedback will be useless. In this situation, as a clinical supervisor or teacher you may need another layer of teaching intervention before giving the feedback.
Checked for understanding
At the end of a session or after you have given feedback always check if this has been understood. This could be done in the following ways depending on the teaching topic or activity:
1). By asking for a return demonstration and checking if the feedback has been incorporated.
2). By asking the learner to explain in own words the feedback received.