Doctor ratings survey open to bias

Using feedback from patients, other doctors and supervisors to assess a physician's professionalism should be done carefully because bias could creep into the process, British researchers say.

In the UK, the General Medical Council that regulates doctors is working on a new system to revalidate doctors after they are considered fit to continue practicing. Part of the proposed system includes surveying patients and colleagues.

In Friday's issue of the British Medical Journal, Professor John Campbell of Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in Exeter and his co-authors looked at assessments of doctors' professionalism for a group of 1,065 doctors.

The doctors were asked to nominate up to 20 medical and non-medically trained colleagues to take part in an online secure survey about their work.

Systematic bias

"Systematic bias may exist in the assessment of doctors' professionalism, arising from the characteristics of the assessors giving feedback, and from the personal characteristics of the doctor being assessed," the studys authors concluded.

Colleagues were likely to give less positive feedback if the doctor had qualified anywhere outside the UK or South Asia or if they did not have daily or weekly professional contact with the doctor.

Doctors working in locums (temporary replacements), GPs, psychiatrists and those in lower-levelroles also tended to receive less favourable feedback.

"Our data suggest that systematic bias might be responsible for at least some of the differences in the assessment of doctors' performances, but this observation can only be confirmed by use of an objective measurement of professionalism."

The study was funded by the UK General Medical Council.