Does direct observation improve medical students' clerkship experiences?

Kuo, Anda K.; Irby, David; Loeser, H.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02132.x

Cited by 22 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…Second, students’ perspectives of observation and feedback regarding communication skills with real patients have not been examined. Student experiences with the teaching and evaluation of clinical communication skills has been found to greatly affect their perception of the importance of such skills in the practice of medicine [2, 23, 24]. While the idea that observation occurs infrequently and feedback provided medical learners is often inadequate has been previously noted, we were unable to find empirical research examining student perceptions of these two aspects of communication learning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

‘I wish someone watched me interview:’ medical student insight into observation and feedback as a method for teaching communication skills during the clinical years

2016

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BackgroundExperts suggest observation and feedback is a useful tool for teaching and evaluating medical student communication skills during the clinical years. Failing to do this effectively risks contributing to deterioration of students’ communication skills during the very educational period in which they are most important. While educators have been queried about their thoughts on this issue, little is known about what this process is like for learners and if they feel they get educational value from being observed. This study explored student perspectives regarding their experiences with clinical observation and feedback on communication skills.MethodsA total of 125 senior medical students at a U.S. medical school were interviewed about their experiences with observation and feedback. Thematic analysis of interview data identified common themes among student responses.ResultsThe majority of students reported rarely being observed interviewing, and they reported receiving feedback even less frequently. Students valued having communication skills observed and became more comfortable with observation the more it occurred. Student-identified challenges included supervisor time constraints and grading based on observation. Most feedback focused on information gathering and was commonly delayed until well after the observed encounter.ConclusionsEliciting students’ perspectives on the effect of observation and feedback on the development of their communication skills is a unique way to look at this topic, and brings to light many student-identified obstacles and opportunities to maximize the educational value of observation and feedback for teaching communication, including increasing the number of observations, disassociating observation from numerically scored evaluation, training faculty to give meaningful feedback, and timing the observation/feedback earlier in clerkships.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0813-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

‘I wish someone watched me interview:’ medical student insight into observation and feedback as a method for teaching communication skills during the clinical years

2016

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“…Medical students have their first intensive experience with patient care in the clerkship rotations of the third year, but studies find students commonly complain about a lack of verbal feedback from instructors during this experience (Isaacson et al 1995;Remmen et al 2000;Branch & Anuradha 2002;De et al 2004;Kuo et al 2005;Hewson & Little 2008;Perera et al 2008;Sargeant et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some propose that attending faculty and housestaff, who teach students in the inpatient settings, fail to provide adequate feedback (Kuo et al 2005), that feedback is provided, but students fail to recognize it (Kogan et al 2000), that it is poorly delivered or not perceived as useful (Hewson & Little 1998;Sargeant et al 2005;Torre et al 2005;Veloski et al 2006). Some educators suggest that attending physicians and housestaff may avoid giving feedback to clerkship students because they lack the time, the motivation, or the skill (Guarino et al 2006;Veloski et al 2006) or wish to avoid a negative emotional response from students (Spikart 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“How am I doing?” Teaching medical students to elicit feedback during their clerkships

2011

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“…8 The benefits of increased direct observation are manifold. Students have reported better satisfaction, 9,10 as have preceptors. 11 With faculty development, focusing attention to the process of observation and practice of observation skills, preceptors become more adept at noting specific physical examination and communication skills, and they rate learners' overall performance more consistently.…”

Section: Advantages Of Direct Observationmentioning

confidence: 98%