Medical students’ needs for feedback from residents during the clinical clerkship year

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Abstract
Feedback from residents may be an important component of the learning process for medical students in the clerkship year. In this study, we investigated what kind of feedback medical students in the clerkship year desired from residents and whether these needs changed over the course of the clerkship year. Over the course of 1 year, 69 students from one medical school class participated in meetings in which the nominal group technique was used to identify their feedback needs. Six students were also individually interviewed. Feedback needs early in the clerkship year were closely linked with students’ needs for goals clarification. As the year progressed, students required less communication from residents regarding expectations and more feedback on specific skills, notably physical examination skills, clinical skills, or both and written communication. Feedback either early or at a midpoint in the clerkship appeared to be an important need. Both positive and negative feedback were frequently mentioned. These results appear to validate theoretical guidelines for feedback previously described in the medical education literature.

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