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Feature: Providing physicians with feedback

Medical Staff Leader Connection, October 20, 2011

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

Look for public opportunities to express appreciation for physicians who have demonstrated behavior you seek to encourage. Public forms for this praise include general medical staff meetings and committee or department meetings. Less formal settings, such as the operating room lounge or a nursing station, are also suitable palces to recognize an exceptional physician. A public display of gratitude for behavior enhances patient and family satisfaction and strengthens teamwork with other providers will go a long way to reinforcing your culture.

Beyond these public opportunities, provide physicians with written feedback regarding physician behavior data. For individual incidents of unusually good or bad physician behavior, send standard letters to physicians. Such a letter should be part of your proganization’s methodology for providing timely feedback to hysicians. If a physician violates the hospital’s conduct policy, he or she should receive feedback as soon as possible after the incident occurs. The same approach applies to a physician who exemplifies positive behavior.

When implementing a behavior policy or setting new behavior expectations, provide initial feedback privately during a face-to-face meeting with the physician. Doing so is especially important when giving negative feedback. This meeting will allow you an opportunity to discuss the policy or expectations with the physician. You can also spend a few minutes educating the physician about the need for the policy or expectations, and you can make it clear that “behavior that was tolerated in the past will no longer be tolerated going forward.” If your medical staff has adopted the power of the pyramid approach to physician behavior, take the time to explain the approach during this meeting as well.

This week's feature is from Richard Sheff, MD, CMSL, chair and executive director of The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro, Inc., in Danvers, MA. For more information, visit The Greeley Company.

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