For those of us in dentistry, it can seem that feedback comes from all directions: from mentors, from patients, from office staff. While feedback can seem overwhelming, like a continuous stream of micro-corrections that affect our well-being, feedback can be a gift and an exciting opportunity. To shift our perspective, it’s important to pause and consider our overall approach to how we interpret feedback.
Feedback literacy is the process of engaging with feedback and using it to improve.
Feedback literacy typically involves four phases, which are 1) accepting feedback, 2) reflecting upon the feedback, 3) engaging with the feedback, and 4) applying feedback to improve subsequent performances.
While receiving feedback can sometimes create a state of vulnerability that raises unpleasant emotions, it’s important to put the emotions aside to focus on how we can learn and grow from the feedback. Although this concept of engaging with feedback is rarely taught in dental school and feedback in senior years of dental school are provided in the presence of patients, understanding how to become more open to feedback can have a positive effect on well-being.
Our research showed that university students who have higher levels of feedback literacy also have higher levels of mindfulness and lower levels of stress. To help students during their busy post-secondary years, we developed a course using mindfulness to support well-being during feedback receipt.
Students who took the course reported that once they began using mindfulness to support their well-being during the feedback process, they noticed they also became welcoming to feedback—many reported actively seeking feedback. They also reported using mindfulness techniques to support their well-being in academic, professional, and personal situations.
One dental student reported using mindfulness techniques to keep calm when working on patients, particularly when the procedure was taking longer than planned. Other students reported using mindfulness to support their well-being as they made transitions from graduate school to professional practice, as well as using mindfulness to manage anxiety in other stressful situations.
To recalibrate your relationship with feedback, and improve your feedback literacy, here are some tips:
- Feedback is not a personal attack. It’s a gift to help improve your performance.
- Accept each feedback moment as an opportunity for personal growth.
- If feedback is disappointing, try to put the emotions aside to see where there is actionable guidance.
- Seek feedback whenever possible. The more you ask for — and receive — feedback in everyday situations, the easier it is to welcome it.
- Take time to celebrate the wins. Reflect on what worked for you and how you can build on that momentum.
Feedback will always be a part of preclinical and clinical dentistry courses and in your career as a dentist. Practising a mindful approach to feedback will ensure you can continue learning and improving your skills.
About the authors
Erin Isings, BA Hon, Master of Arts in Journalism.
Christine E. Bell, BA Hon, PhD Physiology and Pharmacology.
Cecilia S. Dong, DMD, BSc (Dent), MSc (Prosthodontics), FRCD(C).