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Colleague, patient feedback on professionalism should be taken with caution
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Caution is advised when considering patient and colleague feedback of doctors’ professionalism, according to researchers in the United Kingdom.
Doctors from 11 sites in England and Wales participated in the study from March 2008 to January 2011. Of the invited doctors, 1,065 took part in the study. All of the doctors identified 20 colleagues to take part in a secure online survey regarding the professionalism of the doctor. The doctors were also asked to distribute a post-consultation questionnaire to 45 consecutive patients. The colleague survey comprised 18 core items to be scored on a five-point scale, and the patient survey comprised nine core items to be scored on a five-point scale.
The researchers received 30,333 patient questionnaires and 17,031 colleague questionnaires for this analysis. After adjustment for characteristics of the physician and characteristics of the patient sample, the analysis revealed that less favorable scores from patient feedback could be predicted by doctors who obtained their medical degree from a non-European country; doctors practicing as a psychiatrist; lower proportions of white patients providing feedback; lower proportions of patients rating their consultation as being very important; and lower proportions of patients reporting that they were seeing their usual doctor.
Lower scores on the colleague feedback were predicted by the doctors who received their medical degree outside of the United Kingdom or South Asia; doctors currently employed in locum capacity; working as a general practitioner or psychiatrist; being employed in a staff grade or associate specialist; and a lower proportion of colleagues reporting they had daily or weekly contact with the doctor.
Doctors’ ages, sex and ethnic group were not predictors of the feedback; nor were the age or sex of the patients or colleagues, nor the ethnic group of the colleagues.
“Our data highlight the need for guidance for doctors in respect of identifying appropriate samples of colleagues and patients, and, importantly, the need for guidance for responsible officers in interpreting and responding to feedback on doctors’ professionalism,” the researchers wrote. “In particular, our data suggest that systematic bias might be responsible for at least some of the differences in the assessment of doctors’ performances.”
For more information:
- Campbell JL. BMJ. 2011;doi:10.1136/bmj.d6212.