Learning Objectives: Understand what residents perceive as obstacles to receiving feedback. Understand the areas in which residents want more feedback.

Objective: Feedback is perhaps the most important part of the educational process and how residents learn the art and the practice of medicine. Because of its importance, residency programs and all faculty members should constantly strive to improve the process. We sought to analyze the areas our residents believed they could use more feedback and what they perceived as obstacles to obtaining productive feedback.

Methods: Using an online, anonymous survey, all the residents in a 3-year emergency medicine residency program were asked about the feedback they receive. They were asked about the areas in which they receive the most feedback, the areas in which they would like more feedback, and what they perceive as the obstacles to getting good feedback.

Results: 94% of residents said they would like more feedback (44% said “much more,” 50% said “a little more.”) When asked about the areas in which they get the most feedback, 67% of respondents said they get the most feedback about charting/documentation and 20% said they get the most feedback about clinical care. When asked about the areas in which they wish they had more feedback, 94% would like more feedback on clinical care with critically-ill patients, 81% wanted more feedback on clinical care in non-critically-ill patients, and 44% wanted more feedback with procedures. 38% wanted more feedback about interactions with consultants, while only 31% wanted more feedback about interactions with patients. When asked about the obstacles to getting constructive feedback, 94% identified the patient volume / workload, while 63% identified the system being used (New Innovations.)

Conclusion: Despite the emphasis our program puts on feedback, residents still perceive that there is not enough, especially when it comes to clinical care. Surveys like this can be eye-opening and will hopefully lead to changes in faculty behavior to improve the teaching we provide.