The Status of Providing Feedback in Clinical Education from the Perspective of Pediatric Residents and Medical Students at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Background Feedback is a conscious, unbiased, and objective evaluation of performance in order to improve clinical skills, not to assess students' personal talents and values. This study aims to compare the views of pediatric residents and general medical students at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences regarding method of providing feedback in clinical education. Materials and Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in the pediatric ward of hospitals affiliated to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in 2018. The census method was used to select 35 pediatric residents and simple random sampling method was used to select 35 general medical students who had completed internship and apprenticeship. Data collection was carried out using a standard 21-item feedback questionnaire. Pediatric residents and general medical students were asked to identify the importance of feedback received during their clinical education using a 4-point Likert scale. Results The majority of residents believe that feedback was only sometimes expected (27.1%), clearly and explicitly outlined (17.1%), fair (21.4%), and useful in correcting their attitude (18.6%), performance (17.1%), and behavior (27.1%). Majority of general medical students believed that clear, explicit (24.3%) feedback was related with their future career (14.3%) and most of them received positive feedbacks (20). Apart from propositions items 20, 18, and 17, most medical students and residents have selected the Often and Sometimes options, respectively to respond to items. Conclusion Pediatric residents were less satisfied with the feedback received during the clinical education as compared to the general medical students.