Why Feedback Fails in Clinical Teaching, and What Actually Changes It
Department of Medical Education, Medical College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Corresponding Author: Sengupta A, Doctus Journal of Medical Education.
Abstract
Faculty report giving feedback far more often than trainees report receiving it, a gap that faculty development has not closed by teaching better delivery technique. This perspective argues that the failure is relational rather than technical. Feedback is acted on when the trainee believes the observer saw enough to judge, and that the judgement is offered in their interest. Neither condition is met in a system where supervision is brief and rotational. We describe what changes when a named supervisor observes the same trainee repeatedly over a block, and argue that continuity of observation is the precondition that most feedback training assumes but does not create.
Keywords
Feedback; Clinical Teaching; Educational Alliance; Supervision; Continuity; Faculty Development
How to Cite
Sengupta A. “Why Feedback Fails in Clinical Teaching, and What Actually Changes It”. Doctus Journal of Medical Education 1.1 (2026): 27-36.
Copyright and Licence
© 2026 Sengupta A. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.