Credibility and (dis)use of feedback to inform teaching : a qualitative case study of physician-faculty perspectives

Abstract

Evaluation plays a central role in teaching in that physician-faculty theoretically use evaluations from clinical learners to inform their teaching. Knowledge about how physician-faculty access and internalize feedback from learners is sparse and concerning given its importance in medical training. This study aims to broaden our understanding. Using multiple data sources, this cross-sectional qualitative case study conducted in Spring of 2014 explored the internalization of learner feedback among physician-faculty teaching medical students, residents and fellows at a southwest academic medical center. Twelve one-on-one interviews were triangulated with observation notes and a national survey. Thematic and document analysis was conducted. Results revealed that the majority accessed and reviewed evaluations about their teaching. Most admitted not using learner feedback to inform teaching while a quarter did use them. Factors influencing participants use or disuse of learner feedback were the a) reporting metrics and mechanisms, and b) physician-faculty perception of learner credibility. Physician-faculty did not regard learners’ ability to assess and recognize effective teaching skills highly. To refine feedback for one-on-one teaching in the clinical setting, recommendations by study participants include: a) redesigning of evaluation reporting metrics and narrative sections, and b) feedback rubric training for learners.

Keywords

• feedback
• rubric
• credibility
• learner
• evaluation
• teaching
• teacher
• promotion
• clinical
• survey