Feedback in continuing professional development: three pilot studies from Vietnam

Competency-based medical education prepares learners to achieve expected outcome at graduation. Unlike undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, the integration of frequent feedback into continuing professional development (CPD) is challenging. We conducted three prospective pilot studies on giving and receiving feedback to (1) identify and tackle professional practice gaps, (2) enhance deliberate practice and promote self-improvement, (3) tailor clinical instruction. Three studies were carried out in the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City (UMP), from 2021 to 2025. Study 1 was a case-based exclusive CPD series. Cases’ topics were selected based on learners’ feedback. Study 2 was a hierarchical hybrid CPD series, where onsite participants received frequent formative feedback from trained faculty. In study 3, we used participants’ narrative self-reflection to guide clinical instruction. The number of feedback responses in the analysis were 150 for Study 1, 100 for Study 2 and 100 for Study 3. In study 1, 80% of suggested topics were covered. The percentage of learners’ absolute satisfaction increased from 65.3% to 80%. In study 2, with direct observation, deliberate practice and formative feedback, 100% earned CPD certificates. In study 3, clinical guidance was tailored according to self-reflection, with more in-depth analysis for experienced professionals and foundational guidance in a stepwise manner for junior learners. 100% were satisfied with CPD activities. Our study demonstrated efforts to integrate bidirectional feedback in CPD to continuously enhance learners’ support and facilitate homogenous outcome achievement among heterogenous learners’ background.