Challenges of providing timely feedback to residents: Faculty perspectives.

OBJECTIVE

To explore faculty's perceptions of challenges in providing verbal feedback to the Residents and suggest ways to overcome the barriers.

METHODS

As part of a larger study on feedback assessment, five focus group discussions were conducted at the Department of Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, during faculty development workshops held from January to June 2010. Qualitative grounded theory was used to explore faculty perceptions of challenges in providing verbal feedback to the Residents.

RESULTS

Of the 54 faculty members, 49(91%) participated. Four themes that emerged were 'time constraint' indicating high patient load; 'faculty related issues' indicating faculty's apprehension about its own evaluation by Residents; 'educational issues' indicating that the importance of feedback was not emphasised; and 'system and logistic issues' indicating that the assessment form used for assessing Residents was ambiguous.

CONCLUSIONS

Work load of the faculty and the expectations with respect to patient care responsibilities may have an impact on the quality, timing, content and delivery of the feedback provided to the Residents.