Feedback Quality in an Aligned Teacher-Training Program

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Physician Development
• Graduate Medical Education

Background:

• Residents as Teachers (RAT) and Medical Students as Teachers (MSAT) programs are crucial for training future physicians.
• Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (NUFSM) integrated its RAT and MSAT programs in 2010.
• This alignment created continuous experiential learning in teaching and feedback for medical trainees.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a curricular overview of the integrated RAT and MSAT program at NUFSM.
• To assess early program outcomes by analyzing the quality of narrative feedback.
• To evaluate participant satisfaction with the aligned teaching programs.

Main Methods:

• Collected 445 resident feedback narratives from 2013 to 2016 for quality analysis.
• Developed and applied a coding scheme with an operational definition of feedback for quality assessment.
• Administered posttraining surveys to residents and fourth-year medical students (M4s) to gauge satisfaction and perceived program importance.

Main Results:

• Seventy-nine residents participated, delivering high-quality feedback with a mean rating of 2.71 (scale 0-3).
• Consistent high-quality feedback was observed throughout the program duration and across resident experience levels.
• Both residents and M4s reported high satisfaction and recognized the program's importance.

Conclusions:

• The integrated RAT and MSAT program successfully offers experiential learning for future physician educators.
• The program yields high-quality written feedback to learners.
• Evidence indicates high participant satisfaction with the aligned medical education initiative.