Handling negative feedback thoughtfully begins with reflection. Take a moment to sit with the feedback and notice how it makes you feel—whether it’s frustration, defensiveness, or gratitude. Ask yourself why you feel that way. Often, feedback can be a valuable gift, offering an opportunity to pause, learn, and grow. It might highlight areas where you can improve or refine your approach. However, there are times when feedback simply reflects a difference in perspective. In these cases, it’s an opportunity to understand another point of view, even if you choose not to adopt it. Either way, approaching feedback with curiosity and grace can transform it into a meaningful experience for personal and professional growth.

Physicians are trained to take tough decisions multiple times per day. Patient outcomes depend on this. So if you receive negative feedback from a physician, that’s the outcome of their current decision making process. Think about where this might come from, address their concerns and give it another try. If the facts change, they might show another side 😁 PS: We can be difficult to work with, so don’t take negative feedback too personal, it’s part of the game!

I would certainly foremost self analyse my actions and try to do better. However I wouldn’t dwell on it too much because unfortunately in private practice I’ve found a lot of the time feedback from senior physicians comes from their own outdated practice models and sometimes even selfish reasons like jealousy leading them to cause public humiliation of juniors.