Consumers as educators: implementation of patient feedback in general practice training

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• General Practice Training
• Patient-Centered Care

Background:

• Growing interest in patient-based assessments for general practitioner (GP) training.
• Consumers offer unique insights into doctor-patient interaction quality.
• Need for relevant and acceptable patient feedback instruments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate patient feedback instruments for assessing interpersonal skills in GP training.
• To explore the harmonization of social and medical agendas through consumer involvement.
• To compare the discriminating power of different feedback instrument response scales.

Main Methods:

• Development of patient feedback instruments with consumer partners.
• Trialling two distinct instruments in an Australian GP registrar training program.
• Analysis of instrument performance based on response scale differences.

Main Results:

• One patient feedback instrument demonstrated greater discriminating power than the other.
• The difference in discriminating power was attributed to the response scale.
• Consumer involvement enhanced instrument relevance and acceptability.

Conclusions:

• Patient feedback instruments are valuable tools for GP training.
• Collaborative development with consumers improves instrument utility.
• Response scale design significantly impacts instrument effectiveness in assessing interpersonal skills.