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Ask the expert: How should physicians receive positive feedback?

Medical Staff Leader Connection, March 19, 2008

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One basic principle should guide all efforts to provide physicians feedback: praise in public and chaste in private.

Look for public opportunities to express appreciation for physicians who have demonstrated behavior you seek to encourage, such as at medical staff meetings, committee or department meetings, the operating room lounge, or nursing station. A public display of gratitude for behavior that enhances patient and family satisfaction and strengthens teamwork with other providers will go a long way to reinforcing your culture of continuous improvement.

Beyond these public opportunities, the hospital should provide physicians with written feedback. When an organization receives a compliment about a physician, it should share that information with the physician just as quickly as it would share a complaint.

Whether the feedback is presented in writing or in public, physicians prefer to hear feedback (positive or negative) from other physicians:

• Vice president of medical affairs
• Chief medical officer
• Chief of staff
• Department chair
• Service-line medical director
• Medical staff quality committee chair

Positive feedback can also come from a nurse manager, chief executive officer, or other management representative.

To learn more, see A Practical Guide to Preventing and Solving Disruptive Physician Behavior by Richard A. Sheff, MD and Todd Sagin, MD, JD.

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