Practicing Physicians' Needs for Assessment and Feedback as Part of Professional Development

Abstract

Recently, more is being learned about the linkages among assessment, feedback, and continued learning and professional development. The purpose of this article is to explore these linkages and to understand how assessment and feedback can guide professional development and related practice change. It includes a brief review of conceptual models that guide learning and practice change in general, related to both formally structured continuing professional development (CPD) sessions and to self-directed individual activities, and draws on these to inform learning and change from assessment and feedback. However, evidence and theory show that using assessment and feedback for learning and change are not naturally intuitive activities. We propose a 4-phase facilitated reflective process for enabling engagement with assessment data and feedback and using it for learning and change, and explore the varied personal and contextual factors which are influential and require consideration. We end with practical implications and suggestions.

Survey of Australasian geriatricians’ satisfaction with, and preferences for, continuing professional development

“…Other studies among groups of health professionals also indicate that time constraints and workloads are perceived as major barriers to CPD participation and that cost is a less important barrier . Our results are consistent with data suggesting support among learners for flexible, electronic CPD activities and CPD activities that incorporate assessment and feedback …”

Do Faculty Benefit From Participating in a Standardized Patient Assessment as Part of Rater Training? A Qualitative Study

“…53 Physicians often may not know how to incorporate feedback into their daily practice because this is not an intuitive task. 54 This can lead to frustration; guidance and supervision are key to effective reflection and can help integrate new learning. 55 A trained facilitator or coach could help with deliberate practice 54 and assist in mentoring mindful practice.…”

“…54 This can lead to frustration; guidance and supervision are key to effective reflection and can help integrate new learning. 55 A trained facilitator or coach could help with deliberate practice 54 and assist in mentoring mindful practice. 56 Additional research is needed to assess whether a group debrief after the SP assessment would add increased value and meaning to the experience.…”

Tensions in post-examination feedback: information for learning versus potential for harm

“…Responses to feedback are complex and not always positive . Reasons for a negative impact are more diverse than just the content of the feedback message itself, and can include the specific attitudes and beliefs of the learners, their relationships with the feedback provider and the wider educational and socio‐cultural environment of the learner . Lower‐performing medical students may lack the capacity to accurately assess their ability; in which case, feedback indicating low performance relative to their peers could have been unexpected.…”