Feedback Items Research Articles

Analysis of Minimal Marking Technique on Student’s Writing Given by Teachers at MAN Kota Baru, Padang Panjang

This research was based on a phenomenon that the students’ writing ability was still low. It was assumed that there were two main factors influencing the students’ writing. One of them was about facilitating the students with appropriate written feedbacks. In line with that, this research was a kind of descriptive study, which was aimed at finding a deep description of the implementation of minimal marking technique given by teachers at MAN Koto Baru Padang Panjang. Participants of the research were all English teachers there. Furthermore, the data were collected by using two instruments, documents and interview. There were two findings of the research. First, almost all of the written feedback items given through the minimal marking technique were provided to help students working on their grammatical mistakes or forms of the writing, it was proven by the percentage that 99.66% of the written feedback items were focused on forms whereas only 0.34% of the written feedback items were focused on contents. Second, the written feedback technique applied by the English teachers was minimal marking technique. It is used since it is effective for teachers, particularly, in the process of giving the feedback which is time-saving. In addition, it also helps the students to be a critical writer because this technique lets the students working on the mistakes they have made.

Advancing Late-Life Trauma-Informed Care Education: Development and Evaluation of an Educational Podcast.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may emerge in late life in the context of illness, role changes, and life review, leading to complications in disease management. The "Talking Later" podcast was developed as an accessible educational product to improve knowledge about late-life PTSD. We describe the process of systematically developing a ten-episode podcast following Kern's six-step curricular model. Following release, the podcast was evaluated via listenership analytics, external clinician feedback survey (N = 45), and internal team survey (N = 9). In 22 months since release, the podcast was played or downloaded 10,124 times across 45 countries. In the external survey, 97% of clinician experts reported the episodes as engaging and informational; 87% stated that no more than general knowledge of PTSD was required to enjoy the podcast. Qualitative analysis of open-ended feedback items found that participants were interested in learning about additional comorbidities and diversity issues related to late-life trauma reengagement. Both the external and internal survey identified discrete elements for improvement. Results suggest the podcast was engaging and informational to a diverse clinical audience. Podcasts represent a relatively new way to deliver educational content. Further consideration of their pedagogical value and limits is warranted.

Checkbox grading of handwritten mathematics exams with multiple assessors: how do students react to the resulting atomic feedback? A mixed-method study

Handwritten tasks are better suited than digital ones to assess higher-order mathematics skills, as students can express themselves more freely. However, maintaining reliability and providing feedback can be challenging when assessing high-stakes, handwritten mathematics exams involving multiple assessors. This paper discusses a new semi-automated grading approach called ‘checkbox grading’. Checkbox grading gives each assessor a list of checkboxes consisting of feedback items for each task. The assessor then ticks those feedback items which apply to the student’s solution. Dependencies between the checkboxes can be set to ensure all assessors take the same route on the grading scheme. The system then automatically calculates the grade and provides atomic feedback to the student, giving a detailed insight into what went wrong and how the grade was obtained. Atomic feedback consists of a set of format requirements for mathematical feedback items, which has been shown to increase feedback’s reusability. Checkbox grading was tested during the final high school mathematics exam (grade 12) organised by the Flemish Exam Commission, with 60 students and 10 assessors. This paper focuses on students’ perceptions of the received checkbox grading feedback and how easily they interpreted it. After the exam was graded, all students were sent an online questionnaire, including their personalised exam feedback. The questionnaire was filled in by 36 students, and 4 of them participated in semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that students could interpret the feedback from checkbox grading well, with no correlation between students’ exam scores and feedback understanding. Therefore, we suggest that checkbox grading is an effective way to provide feedback, also for students with shaky subject matter knowledge.

Comparing reusable, atomic feedback with classic feedback on a linear equations task using text mining and qualitative techniques

AbstractIn this crossover experiment, we investigated the impact of a statement bank, enabling the reuse of previously written feedback (SA condition), on 45 math teachers' feedback for 60 completed linear equation tests, compared to traditional pen‐and‐paper feedback (PP condition). In the SA condition, teachers were encouraged to use atomic feedback, a set of formulation requirements that makes feedback items significantly more reusable. A previous study found that significantly more feedback was written in the SA condition but did not investigate the content of the feedback. To address this gap, we employed a novel approach of combining text mining with qualitative methods. Results indicate similar wording and sentiments in both conditions. However, SA feedback was more elaborate yet general, focusing on major and minor strengths and deficits, while PP feedback was shorter but more concrete, emphasising main issues. Despite low feedback quality in both conditions, the statement bank led to less effective diagnostic activities, implying that teachers' careless use of statement banks, although convenient, might lead to lower‐quality feedback. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic High‐quality feedback should strike a balance between the volume and focus on the main issues, as more feedback does not necessarily equate to better feedback. Feedback should analyse a student's solution whenever possible: interpreting mistakes and communicating that interpretation as feedback. Text mining identifies meaningful patterns and new insights in text using computer algorithms. When teachers can reuse already given feedback using a software tool (statement bank), they tend to write more feedback instead of saving time. What this paper adds Feedback is compared when teachers could use a tool to reuse already given feedback (referred to as ‘statement banks’) versus a scenario without such a tool. Both approaches observed similar word frequencies, sentiments and amounts of erroneous, descriptive and corrective feedback. However, feedback with a statement bank tended to be more elaborate yet less specific to individual student solutions. In contrast, feedback without the tool was shorter but more concrete, focusing on main issues. Overall, the tool for reusing feedback directed teachers towards less effective diagnostic activities. The paper introduces a novel methodological approach by combining text mining with qualitative techniques in educational research. While text mining provides an overall understanding of differences and similarities in feedback approaches, qualitative methods are essential for in‐depth analysis of content characteristics and feedback quality. Implications for practice and/or policy Statement banks can support teachers by giving more feedback, but in order to improve feedback quality, further measures are necessary (eg, improving pedagogical content knowledge). Teachers may not confuse handiness with quality: statement banks can help, but when used carelessly, teachers tend to describe and correct students' work instead of analysing underlying (mis‐)conceptions using it. Continued attention to feedback quality remains necessary when using such tools.

An Analysis of Written Commentary Technique on Students’ Writing Given by Teachers

This research was based on a phenomenon that the students’ writing ability was still low. It was assumed that there were two main factors influencing the students’ writing. One of them was about facilitating the students with appropriate written feedbacks. In line with that, this research was a kind of descriptive study, which was aimed at finding a deep description of the implementation of written feedback at MAN Koto Baru Padang Panjang. Participants of the research were all English teachers there. Furthermore, the data were collected by using two instruments, documents and interview. There were two findings of the research. First, almost all of the written feedback items were provided to help students working on their grammatical mistakes or forms of the writing, it was proven by the percentage that 99.66% of the written feedback items were focused on forms whereas only 0.34% of the written feedback items were focused on contents. Second, the technique used in giving the written feedback was written commentary. This technique was used due to its effectiveness in helping the students’ writing. In short, giving written feedback through the written commentary technique is really worth for the development of students’ writing, especially for non-native of English.

Use it early: The effect of immersion on spatial and design space aspects in team-based mechanical design reviews

The proliferation of high-immersion technologies might change the way virtual prototypes are used in the design process. This paper investigates the effect of immersion on reviews – critical design situations where many decisions are made. More specifically, the paper analyses the effect of immersion on spatial (intrinsic or extrinsic) and design space (problem or solution) aspects of the review. The effects have been tested in an experimental study comparing low- (computer screen) and high- (head-mounted display) immersion collaborative virtual environments (CVEs). In the experiment, four-member distributed teams conducted early-phase reviews with virtual prototypes represented in one of the two environments. Results show that the high-immersion CVE did not significantly affect the number of feedback items. Next, there was a non-significant but medium effect on the number of extrinsic feedback items, i.e., items that consider relations between the design and surroundings (e.g., users, environment). Finally, there was a significantly higher number and proportion of problem-related feedback items. Therefore, a high-immersion CVE might be more suitable if designers would like to get more problem-related or extrinsic feedback – essential aspects for the early design phases. These findings suggest that low-immersion and high-immersion CVEs are not substitutable but rather complementary technologies.

Serving the most ill and vulnerable: The growth of telehealth in an oncology-embedded rural palliative care practice.

519 Background: Many patients with cancer referred to Palliative Care (PC) have debilitating symptoms, multiple co-morbidities, and a lower functional status which may limit their ability to attend even important health care encounters. These limitations are more impactful for patients living in rural areas. Telehealth technology has become more widespread and sophisticated during and after the COVID public health emergency. Methods: Blue Ridge Cancer Care (BRCC) hired a PC physician in October of 2021 to serve its patients through symptom management, psychosocial support, and discussion of goals of care. The BRCC practice sites are located in a mountainous region of 120 mi radius, therefore for practical reasons, the PC provider evaluated patients only in 2 of the 9 sites of the practice. Between 9 and 10 months after the start of the PC practice, a survey was administered to the Oncology providers to elicit feedbacks that would help grow the program. The survey had 6 quantitative and three open text domains. Based on the results of the survey, telehealth access to PC was facilitated through changes in the indications, workflow of visits and education of staff. Results: BRCC serves about 15,000 active patients a year, with 8, 000 new consults and a total of more than 70,000 visits. Sixty percent of our patients reside in rural zip-codes. The PCS had 169 new consults 314 follow-ups and 483 total visits during the first year. One of the qualitative feedback items in the survey was “better telehealth capability for outlying clinics”. This feedback was confirmed by informal inquiries and telehealth was actively promoted for all the patients in the 9 sites of the practice. The telehealth monthly visits for PC went from an average of 3.25 during the first year to 15.16 after the implementation of the feedback from the survey. Conclusions: In our experience telehealth technology can compensate for logistic limitations to create opportunities to serve patients who are very ill and live in rural areas.

The SOAP Feedback Training Program.

Accessible and efficient opportunities for health professional faculty to hone feedback skills are limited. In addition, feedback models to apply to the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) setting are lacking. Annually, paediatric interns from Children's National Hospital and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center participate in an OSCE, which includes faculty observation and immediate feedback to trainees. In 2018, we incorporated the subjective, objective, assessment, plan (SOAP) Feedback Training Program during 20 min of the pre-OSCE faculty orientation. The SOAP Feedback Training Program introduced the SOAP feedback model (subjective, objective, assessment, plan), facilitated practice in pairs and distributed a cognitive aid referencing the model. We evaluated the quality of faculty feedback exchanges during the 2018 OSCE via retrospective video review using the Direct Observation of Clinical Skills Feedback Scale (DOCS-FBS). We compared the results to the 2015 initial evaluation and used focus groups to understand how and why faculty feedback changed. Comparison of the initial evaluation to the post-SOAP Feedback Training Program intervention data using a Wilcoxon signed rank test showed statistically significant improvement in six of eight feedback items on the DOCS-FBS. Causal coding of focus group transcripts revealed that the SOAP Feedback Training Program evoked affective responses, reinforced prior practice in feedback delivery, improved feedback organisation and increased feedback delivery preparation. The SOAP Feedback Training Program is an effective intervention to teach the SOAP feedback model and improve faculty feedback quality in an OSCE setting. It is efficient and low resource, facilitating its potential use in settings beyond the OSCE.

Assessing the impact of a knowledge translation intervention on physical therapists’ self-efficacy and implementation of motor learning practice

BackgroundThe application of motor learning (ML) principles and research in physical therapy can optimize patient outcomes. However, the translation of the accumulated knowledge in ML to clinical practice is limited. Knowledge translation interventions, which are designed to promote changes in clinical behaviors, have the potential to address this implementation gap. We developed, implemented, and evaluated a knowledge translation intervention for ML implementation that focuses on building clinical capacity among physical therapists for the systematic application of ML knowledge in clinical practice.MethodsA total of 111 physical therapists underwent the intervention, which consisted of the following: (1) an interactive didactic 20-hour course; (2) an illustrated conceptual model of ML elements; and (3) a structured clinical-thinking form. Participants completed the Physical Therapists’ Perceptions of Motor Learning (PTP-ML) questionnaire pre and post intervention. The PTP-ML was used to assess ML-related self-efficacy and implementation. Participants also provided post-intervention feedback. A sub-sample (n = 25) provided follow-up feedback more than a year after the completion of the intervention. Pre–post and post-follow-up changes in the PTP-ML scores were calculated. The information gathered from the open-ended items of the post-intervention feedback was analyzed to identify emerging themes.ResultsComparing pre- and post-intervention scores, significant changes were found in the total questionnaire scores, self-efficacy subscale scores, reported implementation subscale scores (P < .0001), and general perceptions and work environment subscale score (P < .005). The mean changes in the total questionnaire and self-efficacy scores also significantly exceeded the Reliable Change Index. In the follow-up sample, these changes were maintained. Participants felt that the intervention helped them organize their knowledge in a structured manner and consciously link their practice elements to concepts in ML. Discussion of clinical cases was reported to be the most valuable educational method, and the illustrated conceptual model of ML elements was the least valued. Respondents also suggested support activities to maintain and enhance the learning experience, including on-site mentorship and hands-on experience.ConclusionsFindings support the positive effect of an educational tool, most prominently on physical therapists’ ML self-efficacy. The addition of practical modeling or ongoing educational support may enhance intervention effects.

Learner Uptake with Automated Feedback and Teacher Feedback in an Online EFL Writing Context

The Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) system has garnered growing attention in recent years. It is a powerful complement to traditional teacher feedback. Drawing on the data collected from student written texts, AWE feedback, teacher feedback and student interviews in a Chinese university, this study aims to investigates the impact of man-machine feedback on the practice of teaching English writing in an online English as a foreign language (EFL) context as well as students’ engagement with it. The results show that compared with teacher, AWE provides more feedback items and focuses on surface-level such as vocabulary, mechanics and grammar, while teacher pays attention to both surface-level and meaning-level, including organization, content, coherence, etc. Although there is not much difference in the uptake rate between teacher feedback and AWE feedback, the uptake rate of meaning-level feedback is much higher than surface-level feedback. Furthermore, students believe that uptake rate is influenced by various factors such as English competence, feedback quality, score, available time, personal preference, motivation, interest in English learning, and so on. Additionally, students deem that the combination of AWE feedback and teacher feedback has a positive impact on stimulating their writing enthusiasm and improving their writing abilities.

ADVANCING LATE-LIFE TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE EDUCATION: DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF AN EDUCATIONAL PODCAST

Abstract Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may emerge or reemerge in the context of life-threatening illness, retirement, and life review, leading to complications in disease management and end-of-life care. Symptoms of PTSD in later life can be misattributed or overlooked by healthcare professionals, caregivers, and the older adults experiencing PTSD themselves. The “Talking Later” podcast was developed as an accessible educational product to improve recognition and trauma-informed responses to late-life PTSD. Each of the ten episodes had distinct goals and content objectives, which were identified through problem identification and needs assessment by a multidisciplinary team of geriatric clinicians. In the first three months of its publication in November 2021, the podcast has been downloaded by 1,473 unique listeners across 19 countries. The podcast was evaluated via feedback survey (N=39). Approximately 97% of respondents reported the episodes as engaging and informational. 87% stated that no more than general knowledge of PTSD was required to enjoy the podcast. Qualitative analysis of open-ended feedback items found that participants were interested in learning about additional comorbidities and diversity issues related to late-life trauma reengagement. The present poster will additionally describe ongoing efforts to address these and other feedback responses with the ongoing development of a second season of the podcast.

Biased belief priors versus biased belief updating: Differential correlates of depression and anxiety.

Individuals prone to anxiety and depression often report beliefs and make judgements about themselves that are more negative than those reported by others. We use computational modeling of a richly naturalistic task to disentangle the role of negative priors versus negatively biased belief updating and to investigate their association with different dimensions of Internalizing psychopathology. Undergraduate participants first provided profiles for a hypothetical tech internship. They then viewed pairs of other profiles and selected the individual they would prefer to work alongside out of each pair. In a subsequent phase of the experiment, participants made judgments about their relative popularity as hypothetical internship partners both before any feedback and after each of 20 items of feedback revealing whether or not they had been selected as the preferred teammate from a given pairing. Scores on latent factors of general negative affect, anxiety-specific affect and depression-specific affect were estimated using participants’ self-report scores on standardized measures of anxiety and depression together with factor loadings from a bifactor analysis conducted previously. Higher scores on the depression-specific factor were linked to more negative prior beliefs but were not associated with differences in belief updating. In contrast, higher scores on the anxiety-specific factor were associated with a negative bias in belief updating but no difference in prior beliefs. These findings indicate that, to at least some extent, distinct processes may impact the formation of belief priors and in-the-moment belief updating and that these processes may be differentially disrupted in depression and anxiety. Future directions for enquiry include examination of the possibility that prior beliefs biases in depression might reflect generalization from prior experiences or global schema whereas belief updating biases in anxiety might be more situationally specific.

An online feedback system for laparoscopic training during the COVID-19 pandemic: evaluation from the trainer perspective

ObjectiveA system to provide feedback for laparoscopic training using an online conferencing system during the COVID-19 pandemic was developed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate this system from the trainer perspective. DesignA procedural feedback system using an online conferencing system was devised. SettingSurgical training was observed using an online conferencing system (Zoom). Feedback was provided while viewing suture videos which are, as a feature of this system, pre-recorded. Feedback was then recorded. Trainer comments were then converted into text, summarized as feedback items, and sorted by suture phase which facilitates reflection. Trainers completed a questionnaire concerning the usability of the online feedback session. ResultsEleven trainers were selected. Physicians had an average experience of 21.9 ± 5.9 years (mean ± standard deviation). The total number of feedback items obtained by classifying each phase was 32. Based on questionnaire results, 91% of trainers were accustomed to the use of Zoom, and 100% felt that online procedural education was useful. In questions regarding system effectiveness, more than 70% of trainers answered positively to all questions, and in questions about efficiency, more than 70% of trainers answered positively. Only 55% of the trainers felt that this system was easy to use, but 91% were satisfied as trainers. ConclusionsThe results of the questionnaire suggest that this system has high usability for training. This online system could be a useful tool for providing feedback in situations where face-to-face education is difficult.

AN ANALYSIS OF WRITTEN FEEDBACK ON STUDENTS’ WRITING GIVEN BY TEACHERS AT MAN KOTO BARU PADANG PANJANG

Abstract&#x0D; This research was based on the phenomenon that the student’s writing ability was still low. It was assumed that there were two main factors influencing the students’ writing. One of them was about facilitating the students with appropriate written feedback. In line with that, this research was a kind of descriptive study, which was aimed at figuring out the focuses of written feedback given and the techniques used by the teachers in giving the written feedback on students’ academic writing, in this case,the students were asked to write a paragraph, at MAN Koto Baru Padang Panjang. Participants of the research were all English teachers there. Further more, the data were collected by using two instruments, documents, and interviews. The findings showed that, firstly, almost all of the written feedback items were provided to help students with their grammatical mistakes or forms of the writing, it was proven by the percentage that 99.66% of the written feedback items were focused on forms, the most dominant one is on S-V agreement and the least dominant one deals with the usage of adverb, where as only 0.34% of the written feedback items were focused on contents. Secondly, there were two written feedback techniques applied by theEnglish teachers, they were written commentary and minimal marking techniques.

The dissociating of reward feedback on familiarity and recollection processing: evidence from event-related potential.

Although previous studies have explored the effect of reward feedback on recognition memory, electrophysiological evidence for reward-enhanced memory and its underlying processing mechanisms remains unclear. This study adopts reward-learning and recognition memory tasks. Participants were asked to learn the reward values of two-color images (each color image had either reward or nonreward feedback) in the reward-learning task, and then tested their recognition memory performance with reward and nonreward feedback items. Results demonstrated that the recognition memory performance of rewarded items was better than that of nonrewarded items. During the reward-learning period, nonreward feedback elicited larger feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P300 amplitudes compared with reward feedback. The findings indicated that participants mainly engaged in prediction error processing in the early stage, followed by comparing and context update of the learned items. During the recognition memory period, reward items elicited larger FN400 amplitude and smaller LPC amplitude compared with nonreward items. This suggests that reward item retrieval has deeper memory traces and can identify items faster, relying mainly on familiarity processing. Conversely, nonreward, as a general or inhibitory item, requires more detail and cognitive resources, that is, relies on recollection processing. These findings indicated that participants had different process patterns between reward and nonreward items during recognition retrieval.

Atomic, reusable feedback: a semi-automated solution for assessing handwritten tasks? A crossover experiment with mathematics teachers.

Feedback has been recognized as a crucial element in the learning and teaching process. Although teachers know and accept this, they are not always eager to engage in this tedious and time-consuming activity. This study investigates how computers can work together with teachers to make the process of giving feedback more efficient by introducing a semi-automated approach (SA) with reusable feedback: when a teacher writes feedback for a student, the computer saves it, so it can be reused when following students make similar mistakes. We devised the concept of atomic feedback, a set of form requirements that could enhance feedback's reusability. To write atomic feedback, teachers have to identify the independent errors and write brief feedback items for each separate error. Our SA approach with reusable feedback was implemented in Moodle. During a crossover experiment with math teachers (n = 36 + 9 in pilot study), we examined (1) whether SA saves time or changes the amount of feedback, as compared to traditional, paper-based correction work, (2) the extent to which the feedback was atomic, (3) whether atomic feedback enhances the reusability of feedback and (4) how teachers used and perceived the SA system. In light of the results, which suggest that atomic feedback is indeed reusable, we propose formal requirements for writing reusable feedback. Nevertheless, teachers did not save time using the SA system, but they provided significantly more feedback.

Rateworkspace: BIM integrated post-occupancy evaluation system for office buildings

The feedback obtained from occupants regarding their comfort needs and performance of buildings is critical for assessing occupant satisfaction, identifying the operation and maintenance (O&amp;M) issues in time and for improving resource efficiency in buildings. Current facility management (FM) systems and occupant feedback collection practices, however, have limitations in supporting effective decision-making in FM, as they lack the necessary contextual data related to the occupant feedback (e.g., building geometry, systems, elements). Building Information Modeling (BIM)-enabled FM systems are used for combining different types of FM information with building models; however, occupant feedback is still not effectively utilized in FM since it is not integrated with BIM. In this study, a BIM integrated post-occupancy evaluation system prototype is developed for: (1) collecting occupant feedback along with the contextual information related to the feedback items in a structured way, and (2) presenting this information as integrated with BIM to the facility managers. This enables conducting spatio-temporal queries and supports effective decision-making by visualizing the collected feedback. The prototype was designed by using qualitative shadowing with FM teams to identify information needs and use case analysis to determine how contextual data integrated with BIM could be collected from office occupants who are non-technical persons with limited information on building models. This paper identifies the FM query categories that are required to process the occupant feedback and describes the RateWorkSpace prototype developed for office buildings. The deployment of the prototype in a real-world office demonstrates that the proposed system is applicable, practical, usable, and that real-time building performance data can be both collected and analysed with the developed system. This has the potential to increase the effectiveness of the FM and O&amp;M processes, and help to create office spaces with optimized energy use and occupant comfort that also supports occupant well-being and productivity.

Equivalence and convergence of two iterative learning control schemes with state feedback

AbstractThis article considers the equivalence and convergence of two iterative learning control (ILC) schemes with state feedback for a class of multi‐input‐multi‐output discrete‐time nonlinear systems in which each desired trajectory corresponds to a unique desired input or an infinite number of desired inputs. First, we strictly prove that the two ILC schemes are equivalent if they have the identical initial system inputs. Moreover, by the input space transformation method and mathematical induction we establish the necessary and sufficient criterion for the convergence of system output, input and state sequences. It is shown that the (locally Lipschitz) continuity is enough to guarantee the (exponential) convergence. Generally, the learned desired input depends on the values of the initial signals, the learning gain matrix and the state feedback item. By designing them with appropriate structures, the dependence is disappeared. Third, we show how to leverage the available information of system dynamics to design the learning gain matrix and state feedback for better tracking performance. Finally, we provide an example to illustrate the usefulness of our findings, in which we introduce the energy of learnable desired input to evaluate the learning performance.

Patients' Satisfaction by SmileInTM Totems in Radiotherapy: A Two-Year Mono-Institutional Experience.

Background: Patient’s satisfaction is recognized as an indicator to monitor quality in healthcare services. Patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) may contribute to create a benchmark of hospital performance by assessing quality and safety in cancer care. Methods: The areas of interest assessed were: patient-centric welcome perception (PCWP), punctuality, professionalism and comfort using the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology. The RAMSI (Radioterapia Amica Mia SmileINTM (SI) My Friend RadiotherapySI), project provided for the placement of SI totems with four push buttons using HappyOrNot technology in a high-volume radiation oncology (RO) department. The SI technology was implemented in the RO department of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS. SI totems were installed in different areas of the department. The SI Experience Index was collected, analyzed and compared. Weekly and monthly reports were created showing hourly, daily and overall trends. Results: From October 2017 to November 2019, a total of 42,755 votes were recorded: 8687, 10,431, 18,628 and 5009 feedback items were obtained for PCWP, professionalism, punctuality, and comfort, respectively. All areas obtained a SI-approved rate ≥ 8.0. Conclusions: The implementation of the RAMSI system proved to be doable according to the large amount of feedback items collected in a high-volume clinical department. The application of the LSS methodology led to specific corrective actions such as modification of the call-in-clinic system during operations planning. In order to provide healthcare optimization, a multicentric and multispecialty network should be defined in order to set up a benchmark.

Doctor-patient communication during the Corona crisis - web-based interactions and structured feedback from standardized patients at the University of Basel and the LMU Munich.

Background: Due to the pandemic-related restrictions in classroom teaching at the medical faculties of the LMU Munich and the University of Basel, teaching methods with standardized patients (SPs), were shifted to a digital, web-based format at short notice as of April 2020. We report on our experiences with the WebEncounter program, which was used for the first time in German-speaking countries. The program enables one-to-one encounters between SPs and students. Students receive an invitational email with brief instructions and background information on the case. SPs use case-specific criteria that are compliant with the learning objectives for digital evaluation during the encounter. A feedback session takes place immediately following the encounter. The SPs address the didactically relevant sections and can illustrate them with the corresponding video sequences. Finally, the students receive the links to the video recordings of the encounter and the feedback unit by email.Project description: The aim of this pilot study was to analyze the practicability of the program and its acceptance by students and SPs. In addition, we examined whether the operationalization of the learning objectives in the form of assessment items has an impact on the content and thematic development of courses in the area of doctor-patient communication.Methods: To implement the program, patient cases previously tested in communication seminars in Munich and Basel were rewritten and case-specific evaluation criteria were developed. SPs were trained to use the program, to present their patient figure online and to give feedback. The experience of those involved (faculty, SPs and SP trainers, students) in implementing the program was documented at various levels. The frequency and causes of technical problems were described. Student results on the patient cases and on the feedback items were collected quantitatively and, where possible, supplemented by free-text statements.Results: Data from 218/220 students in Basel and 120/127 students in Munich were collected and evaluated. Students were very satisfied with the patient cases, the encounter with the SPs and their feedback: 3.81±0.42. SPs experienced the training as an increase in their competence and the structured feedback as particularly positive. The training effort per SP was between 2.5 and 4 hours. The results show predominantly normally-distributed, case-specific sum scores of the evaluation criteria. The analysis of the individual assessment items refers to learning objectives that students find difficult to achieve (e.g. explicitly structuring the conversation).Problems in the technical implementation (<10 percent of the encounters) were due mainly to the use of insufficient hardware or internet connection problems. The need to define case-specific evaluation criteria triggered a discussion in the group of study directors about learning objectives and their operationalization.Summary: Web-based encounters can be built into the ongoing communication curriculum with reasonable effort. Training the SPs and heeding the technical requirements are of central importance. Practicing the virtual consultation was evaluated very positively by the students – in particular, the immediate feedback in the protected dialogue was appreciated by all involved.