Abstract:Feedback is an essential part of the learning process during undergraduate medical training especially in acquiring practical skills. This study investigates the impact of video feedback on the acquisition of sterile working competencies as an example of a complex practical skill. Fourthyear medical students enrolled in the mandatory skills training completed a 210-minute training unit of ‚wound care'. Oral feedback was received directly after the practical procedure. In the study group, the performance was video-taped and reviewed directly thereafter. Afterwards, students completed a 5-minute OSCE. One to three month later, students were re-assessed as part of their regular practical skills assessment. A total of 107 students were included in the study. There were no significant differences between the two study groups at both point in times. In the present setting and skill, video feedback seems to have no impact on skills' acquisition.Key Words: Feedback, practical skills, video feedback, medical training IntroductionFeedback is recognised as an essential component in medical education [1,2]. Clinical feedback is defined as 'specific information about the comparison between a trainee's observed performance and a standard, given with the intent to improve the trainee's performance' [2]. What is subsumed under the term 'feedback' can take many forms -feedback can be delivered during or after a procedure [3,4], it can be delivered by peers or experts, individually or in groups, and it can be delivered using a multitude of techniques including oral, written, or various types of video feedback [5][6][7]. In addition to solely verbal feedback, reviewing one's performance by video may be a useful adjunct to the debriefing process. The existing experimental outcomes comparing video feedback to verbal feedback are mixed [8]. For instance, video feedback has been used highly successfully in training anaesthesiology residents perform epidural anaesthesia [9], in emergency room simulations [10,11], in the acquisition of wound suturing skills by medical students [12], during a simulated patient encounter in surgical context [13], and in the acquisition of laparoscopic surgical skills by surgery residents [14]. Other studies, found that in some settings, this technique is as effective, but not more so, as traditional types of feedback, e.g. Byrne et al. [15] in a simulation of general anaesthesia. When video feedback was used in a simulated emergency training for anaesthetists focussing on non-technical skills, those participants who had been given feedback using video recordings actually scored lower on the exclusively non-technical skills that were the focus of this study, than those who had received oral feedback [16]. Overall, the available literature suggests that video feedback in medical training seems to be more useful in the acquisition of technical, practical skills -such as those found in surgical disciplines, than in non-technical skills.One of the most fundamental competencies in surgery is the hygien...