Exploring the effects of timing on resident experiences with entrustable professional activity-based feedback and...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Workplace-based Assessment
• Feedback Delivery

Background:

• Effective feedback is crucial for learner development and satisfaction.
• Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are widely used for workplace-based assessments.
• The impact of feedback timing on EPA perceptions is under-researched.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how the timing of EPA feedback influences residents' perceptions.
• To understand resident experiences with EPA-based feedback timing.

Main Methods:

• Conducted 15 semi-structured interviews with Internal Medicine residents.
• Utilized constructivist grounded theory for data collection and analysis.
• Interviews took place between July and December 2023.

Main Results:

• Residents preferred specific, actionable, and opportune feedback.
• Early EPA completion (days after encounter) led to higher perceived feedback quality and uptake.
• Barriers to timely feedback-seeking included perceived burden and relationship costs.
• Verbal feedback was highly valued for its timeliness.

Conclusions:

• Optimizing EPA timing requires balancing learner readiness with workplace pragmatism.
• Addressing timing complexities can improve resident satisfaction with feedback.
• Consideration of feedback timing is essential for effective medical education assessment.