Preparing Medical and Nursing Students for Interprofessional Feedback Dialogues

Area of Science:

• Healthcare education
• Medical training
• Nursing education

Background:

• Limited guidance exists for developing interprofessional feedback training programs.
• The Westerveld framework provides principles for interprofessional feedback dialogues.
• This study addresses the need for structured interprofessional feedback education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement an interprofessional feedback intervention for nursing and medical students.
• To describe the intervention based on the Westerveld framework.
• To analyze students' self-reported goals and learning outcomes to inform future training.

Main Methods:

• An interprofessional feedback intervention was developed using the Westerveld framework.
• The intervention included workshops and a goal-setting assignment for 4th-year nursing and 5th-year medical students.
• Student goals (n=288) were coded, and focus groups (n=11) explored goal-setting processes.

Main Results:

• Students aimed to improve feedback actionability but set unspecific goals for initiating dialogues.
• Goal-setting was influenced by the Westerveld framework, prior experience, expectations, and personal characteristics.
• A contrast exists between desired feedback actionability and the specificity of goals for dialogue initiation.

Conclusions:

• Overcoming barriers to initiating feedback dialogues is crucial for developing other feedback dialogue skills.
• Workplace goal conflicts may impede the setting of specific feedback dialogue goals.
• Explicitly discussing challenges and conflicts in interprofessional feedback dialogue education is recommended.