Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2009) 15: 123-128. doi: 10.1192/apt.bp.106.003293
© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Giving effective feedback to psychiatric trainees

Nick Brown and Louise Cooke

Nick Brown is a Consultant Psychiatrist working at Lyndon Clinic in Solihull (Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust). He is Head of the School for Postgraduate Psychiatry in the West Midlands and a former Associate Dean of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He regularly leads programmes for the development of trainers. Louise Cooke is a Year 4 Specialty Registrar in general adult psychiatry in the West Midlands Deanery, currently also at Lyndon Clinic. She studied medicine at Birmingham University and completed her basic psychiatric training at senior house officer level on the Worcestershire rotation.

Correspondence: Correspondence Dr Nick Brown, Lyndon Clinic, Hobs Meadow, Olton B92 8PW, UK. Email: nicholas.brown{at}bsmht.nhs.uk

Feedback is an essential part of the learning process. Feedback can be positive or negative, constructive or destructive, minimal or in depth. It must always occur and should never be ignored. The role of effective feedback is critical in the modern postgraduate medical educational process in the UK, with its emphasis on competency-based curricula and workplace-based assessment. Feedback is not new in medical education and has been shown in research to be effective in bringing about change, particularly improvement in clinical performance. There are clear principles and features of good and bad feedback and these are highlighted, along with descriptions of models for use in daily practice.