Preparing for Feedback in Context of Competency Based Medical Education Undergraduate Training in India

Feedback is the essence of competency-based medical education (CBME), and an integral part of any assessment program. Though the competency framework provides multiple opportunities for feedback, it will have to be closely interwoven with every spoke of the wheel of the curriculum, as the curriculum rolls-over on the practical ground. The need to provide good feedback has been the major driver for advent of workplace-based assessment (WPBA) and other tools to assist criterion based and objective observations. Though it is essential to embed feedback longitudinally into the new competency framework and in CBA, we are uncertain as to how feedback is being currently practiced within the local culture; hence, a lot of groundwork needs to be done. We need to first identify opportunities for feedback within the competency framework, then reach a consensus on them through deliberations within our own departments so that feedback carves the much needed niche in the blueprint that universities will create to follow the competency framework in “letter and spirit”. Deliberate opportunities for feedback will have to be created in each phase and in the blueprint for each subject taught in that phase, in order to ensure that feedback becomes a reality rather than mere assumption. Preparedness at both the giver and receiver’s end, in a nonthreatening, congenial environment, needs emphasis at this juncture. This article explains the purpose of feedback, components of an ideal feedback and functional logistics.