Peer Review For Medicos Promoted By Australian Pilot Study

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 01 Jul 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Junior Medical Officers will be aided in their professional development by their peers, as part of a pilot study put together by staff of the Medical School at The Australian National University.

The project, being undertaken with Melbourne's Southern Health, aims to develop a kit that Junior Medical Officers (JMOs) can use to self-assess their own strengths across a range of professional competencies. Currently, the criteria against which JMOs may be appraised are being tested by a group of six JMOs, but the next stage will see refined criteria tested by almost 120 JMOs in Canberra and Melbourne.

The study was initiated by a team from ANU and is led by Project Officer Dr Paul Mathews. It has been endorsed by ACT Health and funded through the Department of Health and Ageing.

Dr Mathews, a Research Fellow at ANU Medical School, said the project would help JMOs to broaden their skills.

"All medical professionals require assessment of their own skills throughout their practice life, but until now much of this has been through exams, formal supervision and brief reports," he said. "JMOs starting out on their careers sometimes fail to get meaningful feedback on how well they are doing, or about strategies they can use to develop particular skills.

"This study aims to devise a working model, or self-administered kit, that JMOs can use periodically to assess their strengths or shortcomings."

Dr Mathews said that the involvement of JMOs in putting together the peer review tool would mean greater engagement and buy-in to the process.

"The project was designed to engage JMOs in the development of the content and process for peer review. It was felt that because it was the JMOs who were being assessed, they should be the ones who have input into this new appraisal tool.

"Although peer review is not a new concept, and is used in Canada and elsewhere, its formalisation as part of a range of assessment tools for medicos is becoming a real possibility within the Australian health system."

He added that the peer review project offered the potential to be used in other professional fields such as education, law, nursing, psychology and policing. The project team welcomes JMOs who wish to be involved in the study.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Source: Martyn Pearce
Research Australia