Perspectives on medical education
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The guidelines offered in this paper aim to amalgamate the literature on formative feedback into practical Do's, Don'ts and Don't Knows for individual clinical supervisors and for the institutions that support clinical learning. ⋯ Feedback is not easy to get right, but it is essential to learning in medicine, and there is a wealth of evidence supporting the Do's and warning against the Don'ts. Further research into the critical Don't Knows of feedback is required. A new definition is offered: Helpful feedback is a supportive conversation that clarifies the trainee's awareness of their developing competencies, enhances their self-efficacy for making progress, challenges them to set objectives for improvement, and facilitates their development of strategies to enable that improvement to occur.