Evaluating the impact of a “grand rounds” elective course on students' perceived motivations, comfort, and confidence in providing constructive and reinforcing feedback to guest lecturers

Abstract

Background and purposeProviding feedback is an important skill for all healthcare professionals both within and outside of their discipline. Although student pharmacists frequently receive feedback during both didactic and experiential education, training on how to provide feedback to others is less common. Educational activity and settingAn elective was designed to expose second-year pharmacy students to “grand rounds” with practicing pharmacists as the presenters. Students provided feedback to presenters on presentation style and assessment questions. The primary objective of this research project was to determine if the elective improved students' motivations, comfort, and confidence in providing constructive written feedback. FindingsOver two course offerings, 54% (19 of 35) of enrolled students completed both the pre- and post-surveys. At baseline, the majority of students self-identified as being motivated, comfortable, and confident with providing quality written feedback with the exception of two specific areas: motivation to provide quality written feedback and comfort with providing difficult or sensitive written feedback. At the end of the course, the majority of students self-identified as being motivated, comfortable, and confident across all areas queried. All students agreed or strongly agreed that the efficiency and quality of their written feedback improved during the course. SummaryThe course offered several benefits to students, including learning clinical topics from a variety of presenters and developing feedback skills. The implementation of the grand rounds elective provided students an opportunity to develop their motivation, comfort, and confidence with providing quality constructive written feedback.