Influence of remedial professional development programs for poorly performing physicians

The Collège des Médecins du Québec (CMQ) offers an individualized remedial professional development program to help physicians overcome selected clinical shortcomings. To measure the influence of the remedial professional development program, physicians who completed the program between 1993 and 2004 and who were assessed by peer review during a 2-year period preceding or following the remedial activities were tracked.

For each physician, 30 to 50 patient records were selected randomly for review. Ratings were assigned for the quality of record keeping and for 3 elements pertaining to the quality of care: the clinical investigation plan, diagnostic accuracy, and patient treatment and follow-up. The impact of the program was measured by comparing the proportion of physicians with satisfactory ratings assigned by peer review before and after the remedial professional development program.

Statistically significant improvements (p < .05) were observed for a proportion of physicians (n = 51) with satisfactory ratings with regard to record keeping (20% before and 54% after remediation), the clinical investigation plan (13% before and 59% after remediation), diagnostic accuracy (32% before and 61% after remediation), and patient treatment and follow-up (31% before and 67% after remediation).

Participation in a CMQ remedial professional development program can result in improved clinical performance, as assessed through peer review.