Medical Student Perceptions of Learner-Initiated Feedback Using a Mobile Web Application

Feedback, especially timely, specific, and actionable feedback, frequently does not occur. Efforts to better understand methods to improve the effectiveness of feedback are an important area of educational research. This study represents preliminary work as part of a plan to investigate the perceptions of a student-driven system to request feedback from faculty using a mobile device and Web-based application. We hypothesize that medical students will perceive learner-initiated, timely feedback to be an essential component of clinical education. Furthermore, we predict that students will recognize the use of a mobile device and Web application to be an advantageous and effective method when requesting feedback from supervising physicians. Focus group data from 18 students enrolled in a 4-week anesthesia clerkship revealed the following themes: (1) students often have to solicit feedback, (2) timely feedback is perceived as being advantageous, (3) feedback from faculty is perceived to be more effective, (4) requesting feedback from faculty physicians poses challenges, (5) the decision to request feedback may be influenced by the student’s clinical performance, and (6) using a mobile device and Web application may not guarantee timely feedback. Students perceived using a mobile Web-based application to initiate feedback from supervising physicians to be a valuable method of assessment. However, challenges and barriers were identified.