Feedback in medical education: Identification of barriers and potential strategies to overcome them

Abstract

A number of learning competencies have to be attained by the medical students during their training period, as very limited time is available for them. This calls for the need to help medical students in their journey to become competent by facilitating the process of acquisition of knowledge and skills. The purpose of the current review was to explore the importance of feedback in medical education, identify the potential barriers to its effective delivery, and identify the strategies to overcome them. An extensive search of all materials related to the topic was carried out on the PubMed search engine, and a total of 17 articles were selected based on their suitability with the current review objectives. Keywords used in the search include feedback and medical education in the title alone only. Feedback in medical education is one of the most essential strategies to enhance learning. The findings of some of the studies have shown that feedback is not always beneficial and that students feel that feedback is not that much important as medical educators believe about it. In conclusion, acknowledging the significance and scope of feedback in medical education, the need of the hour is to include the same in every stage of the teaching–learning process. However, the effectiveness of feedback is significantly influenced by a wide range of teacher-, student-, and environment-related factors, and there is a definite need to take appropriate measures to address the challenges posed by these factors.