For single-source feedback, including the mean and percentile rank on feedback by nursing staff does not improve physician-nurse communication amongst anesthesiologists as compared to the raw score alone

ABSTRACTBackground: Audit and feedback has increasingly become part of the medical professional landscape as a means to improve quality of practice. While many performance evaluation tools exist, there remains a paucity of research that assesses the relative effectiveness of the various components of assessment and feedback. Using a single-source framework, we investigated the value of a percentile rank score as a feedback tool to promote individual improvement.Method: Ninety peri-operative nurses completed an initial survey assessing the communication skills of 30 anesthesiologists at London Health Sciences Centre using a five-point Likert scale. Physicians were randomized to receive either only their score, or their score compared to the mean along with their percentile rank. An identical survey asking peri-operative nurses to re-evaluate each anesthesiologist’s communication skills was sent 3 months later, yielding 76 responses.Results: Regardless of whether or not anesthesiologists received feedback t...