Written by Gabia Neverauskaitė, Psychologist & Remote Assessment Coordinator, Mock-OSCE.com
Our Approach to Feedback
Feedback is an essential part of learning that is becoming a fundamental part of medical education curricula. Receiving feedback improves the learning experience, and narrows the gap of what is missing in knowledge1. Feedback that is effective reinforces good practice, and leads the student towards their desired outcome1.
At Mock-OSCE.com, we offer both verbal and written feedback to all candidates. The verbal feedback is immediate and received after each station, as this is known to significantly improve student performance2. Short periods of immediate feedback provides students valuable self-assessment, hence why we keep this verbal feedback to three minutes. There are many existing models for delivering feedback with no particular one fulfilling the one-for-all criteria. We have recently adopted the Pendleton Model for our verbal feedback as it is student-focused, conversation-based, and identifies the student’s goals3. It involves initially asking the student what went well and not so well from their perspective, which in turn shapes the examiner’s response as the student’s reflection acts as a guide. Focusing on the positives first and allowing the student to reflect creates a safe environment and prevents defensiveness3. The examiner makes general comments about the overall performance and offers suggestions for improvement. This feedback is designed to be short and sweet to put the student at ease before their ensuing station.
Conversely, the written feedback is a more detailed and descriptive evaluation of the performance observed. It is intended to be specific, balanced and constructive, while focusing on behaviour and describing gaps throughout the analysis4. Integrating these factors together, ensures we offer our students the best possible feedback that will be useful for them when facing their real practical exams. The written feedback along with scores allocated by following to the Calgary-Cambridge Guide are emailed soon after the exam is complete, as again, we want to ensure it is as timely as possible.
The feedback is revised by Mock-OSCE.com administrators to deem it safe and appropriate before being delivered to recipients.
