Co-Worker Assessment and Physician Multisource Feedback

Background: Multisource feedback (MSF) is increasingly being used as one of the components in revalidation and recertification processes to guide physicians’ continuing professional development. Data provided by coworkers (e.g., nurses, pharmacists, technicians) are recognized as integral for assessing a physician’s communication, teamwork and interprofessional abilities. The purpose of this study was to examine both the reliability of co-worker scores and the association between co-worker familiarity and physician ratings as both affect perceptions of the quality of feedback and the likelihood that recipients will take their feedback seriously. Method: MSF data from 9674 co-workers of 1341 Alberta physicians across 9 specialty groups were analyzed. Analyses for internal consistency and generalizability theory (G and D-studies) were used to assess reliability. The association between co-worker familiarity and the MSF scores they provided to physicians was assessed using ANOVA. Results: Cronbach’s alpha for all co-worker tools was > 0.90. Generalizability coefficients (EP) varied by specialty and ranged from 0.56 to 0.72. D studies revealed that a minimum of 11 co-workers are necessary to achieve stability (i.e., EP > 0.70). Co-worker familiarity exerted a significant (p < .001) positive main effect on physician performance scores, across all specialty groupings. Conclusions This study confirms the reliability of co-worker scores and provides evidence that co-worker MSF data is stable and consistent for the purposes of providing physicians with feedback for professional development. Attention however needs to be paid to co-worker/physician familiarity as this relationship may favourably bias physician performance scores.