Mobile Application to Improve Just-in-Time 2-Way Formative Feedback in Graduate Medical Education

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Informatics
• Digital Health

Background:

• A need exists for user-friendly tools to support direct observation and facilitate two-way feedback between residents and faculty.
• Current feedback mechanisms often lack timeliness and efficiency in clinical training environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a mobile application for delivering just-in-time feedback to residents.
• To enhance the timeliness and quality of faculty feedback.
• To enable residents to provide feedback on the value of faculty assessments.

Main Methods:

• An iOS mobile application was developed for capturing entrustable professional activities (EPAs)-based feedback from direct observations.
• Internal medicine residents and core faculty participated in a study evaluating the app's utilization and user satisfaction.
• Data analysis included assessment completion rates, narrative feedback characteristics, and end-user survey responses.

Main Results:

• High completion rates (87%) were observed for resident and faculty assessments initiated via the app.
• Faculty provided narrative comments in 97% of assessments, with 64% of resident feedback to faculty also including narrative comments.
• The application was perceived to promote educational interaction, with 86% of residents and 90% of faculty reporting positive experiences.

Conclusions:

• The developed mobile application efficiently facilitates EPA-based formative assessments in the workplace.
• The app effectively captures bidirectional feedback, enhancing communication between residents and faculty.
• This digital tool supports timely and specific feedback, contributing to improved medical education and training.