Harnessing Emotions to Enhance Feedback in the Emergency Department

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Emergency Medicine
• Psychology

Background:

• Feedback in graduate medical education is often insufficient.
• Emergency Department settings present unique challenges to effective feedback due to time constraints and lack of continuity.
• Meaningful reflection is crucial for trainee development but often hindered in fast-paced clinical environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate an emotion-linked debriefing model in emergency medicine residencies.
• To explore the impact of structured prompts focusing on emotions during shifts on feedback quality.
• To assess the model's effect on trainee engagement and the generation of learning goals.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of an emotion-linked debriefing model across three emergency medicine residency programs.
• Utilization of structured prompts designed to elicit discussion of both positive and negative emotions experienced during clinical shifts.
• Qualitative assessment of feedback conversations, trainee engagement, and the nature of learning goals generated.

Main Results:

• The emotion-linked debriefing model facilitated richer feedback conversations.
• Trainee engagement with the feedback process was significantly deepened.
• The model led to the generation of more specific and actionable learning goals.

Conclusions:

• Emotion-linked debriefing is a practical strategy to enhance real-time feedback in graduate medical education.
• This model shows promise for improving the quality of feedback and learning in Emergency Medicine.
• Further research is warranted to fully evaluate the educational impact of emotion-linked debriefing.