What kind of feedback do medical students want?

Feedback in medical education is as important as developing the curriculum and choosing the right method of instruction. This study measured three overarching areas: student satisfaction rates with academic feedback, the type and helpfulness of the feedback, and the types of feedback that students want.

In December 2013, 166 students answered a student survey that consisted of 26 items. The survey asked questions on their experiences with the overall feedback that was given the previous semester, the satisfaction rate, the type of feedback that was received, the helpfulness of the feedback, and the types of feedback that were desired after examinations and learning tasks.

Overall, 35% of the students were satisfied with the feedback that they received in the previous semester. Students wanted more systematic (61.4%) and timely feedback (30.1%). The types of feedback that were most desired were "written comment feedback from the teacher" (51.8%) for learning tasks and "item difficulty, percentile ranks feedback" for examinations (62.0%).

Students found the current feedback to be helpful, but the lack of feedback that students desired indicates that we must provide more systematic feedback in a more timely manner.