Exploration of constructive feedback practices in dental education chairside teaching: A case study.

Abstract

Chairside teaching is one of the teaching-learning methods in clinical dental education in which direct care is provided to patients. When students have been deemed competent in carrying out procedures on a dental phantom, they need clinical experience on patients, with guidance and constructive feedback from clinical teachers. Constructive feedback is an important learning platform in helping students analyse the strong and the weak aspects of their performance in order to identify required improvements. This study aimed to explore the practice of giving constructive feedback in chairside teaching. A qualitative method with a case study design. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with clinical teachers and students in clinical rotation. Data triangulation was carried out by observing the practice of giving constructive feedback in chairside teaching and document analysis from January to April 2019. Results of the in-depth interviews and FGDs were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a thematic analysis approach. In-depth interviews with five programme coordinators and FGDs with two groups of clinical teachers (N=8 and N=6) and two clinical student groups (N=8 each). Three main themes emerged in this study: ways to provide feedback, challenges on feedback provision and challenges on feedback follow-up. Differences in perception between clinical teachers and students were identified, influenced by students' interactions with the learning environment. Interventions are to be encouraged that involve teachers, students and institutions, and the interactions amongst the three.