Giving and receiving constructive feedback: a staff training tool.

Good feedback is rare. That is because it takes considerable time, effort, skill, and know-how to be able to provide and use feedback effectively. This article explores why feedback is a frequently misused and underused practice management tool. It describes the tenets of useful feedback and five common medical practice feedback errors. It explores the value of feedback and the particular ways that the medical practice staff can harness feedback to improve its work performance and professional skills. This article also explores the value of feedback as a team-building tool. It includes 15 ground rules each for receiving and for giving feedback. Finally, this article describes four assumptions that bad critics make and that members of the medical practice staff will want to avoid when giving feedback to their co-workers.