Leadership-Specific Feedback Practices in Surgical Residency: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Objective: The importance of feedback is well recognized in surgical training. Although there is increased focus on leadership as an essential competency in surgical training, it is unclear whether surgical residents receive effective feedback on leadership performance. We performed an exploratory qualitative study with surgical residents to understand current leadership-specific feedback practices in one surgical training program.

Design: We conducted semistructured interviews with surgical residents. Using line-by-line coding in an iterative process, we focused on feedback on leadership performance to capture both semantic and conceptual data.

Setting: The general surgery residency program at the University of Michigan, a tertiary care, academic institution.

Participants: Residents were purposively selected to include key informants and comprise a balanced sample with respect to postgraduate year, gender, and race.

Results: Four major themes were identified during the thematic analysis: (1) the importance of feedback for leadership development in residency; (2) inadequacy of current feedback mechanisms; (3) barriers to giving and receiving leadership-specific feedback; and (4) resident-driven recommendations for better leadership feedback.

Conclusions: Many surgical residents do not receive effective leadership feedback, although they express strong desire for formal evaluation of leadership skills. Establishing avenues for feedback on leadership performance will help bridge this gap. Additionally, training to give and receive leadership-specific feedback may improve the quality and incorporation of delivered feedback for developing surgeon-leaders.

Keywords: Feedback; Graduate medical education; Interpersonal and Communication Skills; Interpersonal skills; Leadership; Leadership development; Professionalism; Systems-Based Practice.