Investigating feedback orientation in medical learners

Abstract

Background/purpose: Feedback processes in health professions education (HPE) are not always successful. While recommendations to improve feedback provision dominate the literature, studying specific learner attributes that impact feedback uptake may also improve feedback processes. Feedback orientation is a concept from management science involving four dimensions of learner attributes and attitudes that impact their feedback uptake: utility, accountability, social awareness, and feedback self-efficacy. Feedback orientation may represent a valuable concept in HPE. We aimed to understand medical learners’ feedback orientation at different stages in their development. Methods: We used the Feedback Orientation Scale, a 20-item survey instrument, for a cross-sectional analysis of feedback orientation in medical students and Internal Medicine residents at one large academic center. We performed descriptive statistics and analysis of variance for data analysis. Results: We found the same factors (dimensions) to feedback orientation in our population as in management science. Overall feedback orientation scores were high and were largely consistent across trainee levels. Utility was the domain that was highest across learners, whereas feedback self-efficacy was lowest. Conclusions: Feedback orientation represents a useful concept to explore medical learners’ attitudes toward feedback’s role in their development. The four domains can help guide further nuanced feedback research and application. Practice points Feedback orientation is a concept from the management science literature that describes an individual’s feedback receptivity in a more durable way; it comprises 4 distinct domains: utility, accountability, social awareness, and feedback self-efficacy. The feedback orientation construct translates well to HPE. Medical learners’ overall feedback orientation is largely stable across training from early medical school to late residency. Medical learners’ highest scores are in the utility domain, whereas lowest are in feedback self-efficacy. Focusing on the individual domains of feedback orientation can help guide future, more nuanced research and interventions on feedback.