Painful. Exciting. Artificial. Paternalistic. Dangerous. Helpful.
And then Steve chimed in:
“Shiatsu.” 😂 Uncomfortable at first…but really worth the learning experience.
That was how preceptors described what video reviews felt like during this morning’s faculty development session and honestly, it captured the conversation perfectly.
For many medical education programs, video review gives residents a chance to see themselves in the clinical encounter in a way they normally can’t. Sitting with a preceptor, they can pause the recording, notice what was happening in the room, reflect on how they responded, and talk through the small moments that often get lost once the visit is over. At its best, it becomes less about judging performance and more about creating space for curiosity, reflection, and growth.
We talked about moving video review away from a standard checklist:
“Did the resident demonstrate the right behaviours?”
and toward:
“What did you notice about yourself here?”
Less feeling like one is hunting for mistakes. More reflection, curiosity, and conversation about where the learner is at and how they’re responding to their patient’s cues.
But the discussion also surfaced some important tensions:
1. Residents already reflect so can video review sometimes feel paternalistic…like another program requirement to check off?
2. How safe does it feel to be recorded, both as a resident and as a patient? I have yet to find a single video review research article that delves into the patient experience and how to integrate them meaningfully into the learning experience.
3. Who has access to the video and how are privacy concerns managed?
4. And is one resident-patient encounter really enough to tell us much about someone’s behaviour, or do we need to encourage multiple recordings over time (similar to the UK model) to actually observe and note a change in resident behaviour?
Preceptors also shared what helps: supportive and non-judgemental faculty, preparing residents well in advance, sometimes being present during the recorded encounter to provide reassurance, and perhaps most importantly — preceptors experiencing video review themselves so they understand the vulnerability of being on the other side of the camera.
References:
Koehler, A. N., Knudson, M. P., Ballard, P. J., Nicolotti, L. M., Caballero-Quinones, E., & Daniel, S. S. (2023). Video review of family medicine resident clinical encounters: A tool for building emotional intelligence. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1188041. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37496798/
Møller, J. E., Doherty, E., & Brøgger, M. N. (2024). “Bring your worst”: Residents’ perspectives on video review of challenging patient communication as a learning tool. PEC Innovation, 5, 100322. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772628224000700?via%3Dihub
Robbrecht, M., Van Winckel, M., Mulder, A., & Embo, M. (2025). What is the learning effect of video review in postgraduate medical education: A systematic review. BMC Medical Education, 25, 114. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12909-024-06515-7
#MedicalEducation #FamilyMedicine #FacultyDevelopment #ReflectivePractice #ResidentEducation
