Student midwives' perspectives on efficacy of feedback after objective structured clinical examination

Assessment of learning and subsequent feedback is important in both theoretical and practice domains in order to ensure students understand the theory underpinning midwifery, and are able to practise competently to the standard required by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). It is incumbent on both the midwifery lecturer and the practice mentor to understand the key role of feedback in ensuring student midwives learn from, and are empowered by, the assessment process (Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick, 2006). Feedback following assessment should be both formative and diagnostic, providing information about student achievement to teachers and learners alike. Assessment and feedback contributes to student learning at university, assists the development of evaluative skills and reflection, and is essential for employment and lifelong learning (Gaberson and Oermann, 2010).

Students are exposed to feedback in various forms, and their perception of feedback as ‘useful’ includes whether or not the feedback is relevant to the assessment and whether the feedback is perceived as positive or negative. Both positive and negative feedback may be deemed useful in certain situations (Orsmond et al, 2005), for example after an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) where the purpose is to assess competency to carry out a particular midwifery skill. In this situation, feedback on performance should be unambiguous, clearly articulated and delivered in a manner that makes absolutely clear to the student those areas requiring immediate improvement. In reality, feedback can produce unclear results, requiring further investigation on the part of students who seek to learn from feedback and improve their performance (Fry et al, 2009). When feedback is not clearly articulated, students are unable to self-regulate their learning, improve future performance and thus gain the necessary skills to practise competently.