Assessment of physicians’ professional performance: using questionnaire-based tools

Nowadays, assessing physicians’ professional performance is very important. An oft-used method to assess physicians’ performance are questionnaires. These questionnaires, which consist of scores based on statements about performance, provide physicians with feedback from different colleagues, i.e. so-called 360° feedback. Since January 2020, medical specialists are required to collect this feedback, without it they cannot reregister as a specialist. In this thesis, the validity of these questionnaires is examined.
In order to see if physicians’ performance improves after collecting feedback, how the scores change over time was researched. It was found that 50% of the physicians improved their scores, and it seems that the improvement is influenced by how the physicians gauge their own performance. Physicians who assess their own performance higher than their colleagues, seem to improve less or not at all. The results of the research suggest that collecting 360° feedback should not be the only tool used to provide insight into one’s own performance.