Giving Feedback to Palliative Care Learners (522)

Abstract

1.Discuss the challenges of giving feedback to learners, both general and those more specific to palliative care.2.Identify specific strategies for overcoming challenges to giving learner feedback in the palliative care setting.3.Apply skills for giving feedback using a structured approach appropriate for palliative care bedside teaching. Giving feedback to learners is a skill that has gained increasing attention in recent years but still causes discomfort for both educators and trainees. Many educators have not received training in how to give feedback effectively, leading to avoidance, missed opportunities for teaching and learning, and under-supervised learners. As the field of palliative care grows and training programs move toward more stringent requirements, like ACGME accreditation and site visits for Hospice and Palliative Medicine physician fellowships, the need to provide effective competency-based feedback to trainees becomes increasingly important. The challenges common to giving feedback are further heightened by the nature of palliative care. Major interventions often rely on strong communication skills and involve intensity around emotions and ethical issues. At a very basic level, those giving feedback to learners need opportunities to practice and receive feedback themselves. This interactive skill-building session will focus on specific strategies to overcome the challenges of giving feedback to palliative care learners. It will begin with a participant needs assessment and an overview of principles for giving feedback from the education literature. Attendees will then discuss an algorithm developed for giving feedback to palliative care learners and define the parallels between giving feedback and breaking bad news. Emphasis will be on the importance of choosing an appropriate setting, titrating the amount of information given, attending to affect, and making a plan for next steps. Participants will then practice these steps and receive feedback themselves in facilitated small groups. Finally, the group will reflect on lessons learned and develop individual action plans to apply these skills in their teaching practice. Resources for further enhancing skills, structure, and data in the feedback process, including tools from the HPM Toolkit of Assessment Methods, will also be highlighted.