Feedback in family medicine clerkships: a qualitative interview study of stakeholders in community-based teaching

Feedback is an important aspect of teaching and learning in medical education. Irrespective of the training environment, too little effective dialogic feedback occurs. Community-based outpatient learning environments, such as general practitioner practices, have heterogeneous framework conditions regarding feedback that decrease feedback quality. To improve feedback in this setting, characteristics of feedback in such learning environments must be considered. This study aims to reveal such characteristics from different perspectives and derive ideas for improving feedback in community-based learning environments. Three stakeholder groups in family medicine clerkships as an example of community-based learning environments (n = 15 students, n = 12 faculty and administrative staff, n = 13 general physician trainers) were interviewed for this study. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed with qualitative content analysis. All stakeholders interviewed note a lack of feedback between groups. Feedback in primary care practices takes place in specific contexts (e.g., during vs after a consultation, during vs at the end of the clerkship) and is provided in different ways (e.g., verbal vs nonverbal). Barriers of effective feedback in community-based settings are: lack of opportunity/initiation, fear of giving feedback, unawareness (of correct feedback and/or lack of prior experience with feedback), and little basis for feedback. Currently, the exchange between the university and community-based learning environments is limited to grading and report writing, with little sharing of meaningful information. The potential of a better exchange between those within community-based learning environments and the university to improve feedback processes is not reached. This exchange and the framework conditions specific for the community-based learning environment should be considered as parts of the structural dimension of feedback. Teachers and course managers of family medicine institutes are in an important position to shape these factors actively, working together with stakeholders of community-based teaching.