Gender and Feedback in Medical Education

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Background: More women are entering medical school and faculty positions, creating increased opportunities for interactions across gender during medical education. Little is known about how gender affects attitudes towards and preferences around feedback. Objective: To explore differences in giving and receiving feedback between men and women in clinical education. Methods: An anonymous survey was distributed to 3 rd and 4 th year medical students, residents, and clinical faculty at West Virginia University School of Medicine at the start of the 2014-2015 academic year. Participants were surveyed about their attitudes, expectations, and knowledge about feedback in the clinical educational setting. Responses were mostly on a 5-point Likert scale. The authors used Fisher's exact test (FET) and binary logistic regression to identify differences in responses by gender. Results: Of 762 potential respondents, 155 (20%) completed the survey. More women preferred to receive constructive feedback in written form (FET p = .05, OR = 4.18, p = .009). They also preferred to give feedback in written form (FET p = .04, OR 4.98, p = 0.003). However, a greater proportion of men preferred to give constructive feedback face-to-face (FET p = 0.003, OR NS), reported liking to give constructive feedback (OR = 4.40, p = 0.04), and felt comfortable giving constructive feedback (FET p = .03, OR = 10.21, p = 0.003). Conclusions: These findings suggest there are differences in the preferences and comfort men and women have for giving and receiving feedback. This has implications for approaches to clinical preceptor training around feedback.