Providing Effective Feedback to Lab Trainees and Students

There’s something that underpins not just excellent training but excellent laboratories too; it’s the staff. But understanding how we take a trainee from their early days at university or initial days as a qualified Biomedical Scientist through to becoming a confident and competent Biomedical Scientist is a complex process.

At the heart of that process lies feedback. How we give it, when we give it, and the culture that surrounds it. Training isn’t just about ticking boxes or signing off competencies it’s about creating an environment where people grow. Feedback is the fuel for that growth.

So whether you’re a training officer, a laboratory manager, or a BMS in training yourself, I want this article to serve as a reflection on how we can do feedback better.

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Creating a Successful Training Environment

There’s something that underpins an excellent working laboratory and it’s not difficult to guess what that is; It’s the staff. But understanding how we arrive at the finished product of a well rounded, educated, and knowledgeable Biomedical Scientist (BMS) is a bit more of a complex task.

Developing a Biomedical Scientist from their initial days in the laboratory through to a competent and knowledge hungry BMS is a process in itself and I think it’s important to discuss the importance of how we can start out on the right foot. Ultimately at some point you will either be involved with training a biomedical scientist or you may be one that is currently training and so I would like this article to serve as a primer on the training environment itself. Training is not a task, it’s a culture.

It’s always important to start out on the right foot. It’s often said that failing to prepare is preparing to fail and I think this is as true in the laboratory as it is anywhere else. So if you’re a BMS in training or a training officer responsible for the training environment itself, or someone with a bit of an interest in training then this is the article for you.

1–2 minutes
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