Peer-assisted debriefing of multisource feedback: an exploratory qualitative study.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Physician Professional Development
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• The Manitoba Physician Achievement Review (MPAR) is a mandatory 360-degree feedback assessment for physician licensure.
• Reflection on feedback is crucial for driving practice change.
• The MPAR Reflection Exercise (RE) is a peer-assisted debriefing tool designed to facilitate this reflection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore physician utilization of the MPAR RE.
• To identify areas of change physicians committed to.
• To understand the perceived role of reflection in the MPAR process.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study involving thematic analysis of 61 completed MPAR REs.
• Semi-structured interviews with 6 physicians who completed the RE.

Main Results:

• Physicians engaged peers (colleagues, staff, spouses) for feedback review.
• The RE was found useful for processing surprising feedback (positive and negative).
• Commitments to change spanned all CanMEDS roles; implementation success was high despite barriers like time and habit.

Conclusions:

• Peer-assisted debriefing effectively supports reflection on multisource feedback.
• The MPAR RE is an implementable, low-resource tool that promotes physician practice change.
• Physicians successfully identified, planned, and implemented changes across all CanMEDS roles with peer support.