Effective communication is one of the core competencies of family physicians. Prior to 2012, trainees were assigned to video record one of their consultations once a month. Video reviews by their colleagues and trainers were conducted every 2 weeks. However, the reviews were often quite critical, and trainees often felt they did not much benefit from the reviews. Moreover, there was no structure of giving feedback. To deal with this problem in 2012 we began using the “Pendleton’s Rules”, a model developed in United Kingdom to improve this kind of feedback situation.

In 2012, Pendleton’s rules were adopted as a feedback model. With these rules, the trainee would first give some background about the video recording of their consultations, and then the reviewers would ask the trainee what she/ he thought they did well. Then the observers would add what they thought went well in the interview. Then the trainee would make some observations about what went less well and how their interview technique could be improved. And finally, the observers would discuss what they thought went less well and how the trainee’s technique could be improved. During this first year, a focus group of trainees and a focus group of trainers conducted a study to explore the effectiveness of the new giving feedback model. 

We would like to thank all of the participants in the study: trainees and trainers, for the time and help given throughout. Without their participation, this research would not have been possible.

Krackov, S. K.  (2009). Giving feedback. In Dent J. A., Harden R. M. A practical guide for medical teachers. London: Churchill Livingstone.
Pendleton, D., Schofield, T., Tate, P., Havelock, P. (2004). The new consultation. Oxford: Oxford University.
Ramani, S., Krackov, S. K. (2012). Twelve tips for giving feedback effectively in the clinical environment. Medical Teacher, 34, 10, 787–791.