“Feedback literacy is something that hasn’t quite gotten enough attention. In competency-based curricula, it is key that we teach our learners how to manage the feedback conversations that they’ll be having in school.”⁹  

– Mary Fey

Senior Director, Teaching and Learning at the Center for Medical Simulation

Boston, MA

• ✓Appreciate feedback. They recognize the crucial role that feedback plays in improving their performance. 
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• ✓Make judgments. They have the ability to make sound judgments about their own work and the work of others, and can participate effectively in peer-to-peer settings.  
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• ✓Manage their emotions, feelings, and attitudes. They can maintain emotional equilibrium and aren’t defensive when they receive feedback. They’re proactive in eliciting feedback and strive for continuous improvement.  
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• ✓Take action. They know the importance of needing to take action in response to feedback. 

• ✓Reinforce the “why” behind feedback. Explaining to your learners that feedback will help them meet the competencies and will ultimately lead to better patient care may help them appreciate the value of the feedback.¹¹ 
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• ✓Emphasize the importance of feedback to the learning process. Ensure they know that deliberate practice with feedback is the only path to getting better.¹² 
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• ✓Normalize the struggle. Healthcare education is hard. Remind your learners that mistakes and feedback are all normal parts of the learning process.¹³ 
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• ✓Offer plenty of peer-to-peer learning experiences. Exposure to the work of their peers helps learners to self-assess effectively by making comparisons between their own work and the work of others.¹⁴ 
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• ✓Use a caring tone when giving feedback. Your tone is one of the most crucial aspects of how they’ll react to your feedback. A caring tone will increase their engagement with what you have to say.¹⁵ 
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• ✓Provide timely feedback. Consider using technology to facilitate this, such as virtual or VR simulations that can provide them some immediate feedback on how to improve.   
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• ✓Use exemplars. For example, having learners watch and analyze a video recording of a simulation can allow you to show, rather than tell, learners what your expectations are — while also building their capacity to make judgments.¹⁶ 
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• ✓Give them a clear path forward. Be specific in your feedback about the action(s) they need to take to improve.   
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• ✓Encourage them to strive for continuous improvement through feedback.¹⁷ Explain that their healthcare career is a journey in which they’ll keep growing in skill and expertise — and that you, too, are doing the same.¹⁸   
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• ✓Start early. Aim to begin fostering feedback literacy in the first semester.   
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• ✓Understand that building feedback literacy takes time. Offer opportunities for your learners to build this skill across the curriculum.