360 is a process of gathering information about a doctor from a variety of useful colleagues and patients. This feedback helps promote continuous professional development as well as supporting clinical governance. 360° feedback for doctors provides information from clinical colleagues, other members of the healthcare team, trainees, managers and patients.

When all the information has been collected and collated, it is fed back to the doctor to promote development and continuous improvement and provide a link to clinical governance.

Rationale

Doctors are now required to collect information in order to reflect on individual performance and create personal development plans through an appraisal process. Doctors have found the systems currently available to generate this information, for the most part, to be unreliable, designed for team information rather than individuals or non-existent. Hence Consultants have to collate information for a portfolio themselves and find it excessively time consuming. The 360° Assessment Process will provide feedback from colleagues and others, which doctors can include in their portfolios.

There is evidence of the benefits of 360 assesment:

• US physicians found 360° feedback a reliable assessment of areas such as clinical skills, humanistic qualities and communication skills
• The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta found positive results from the use of 360° feedback. Two thirds of volunteers considered or implemented changes to their practice after 360° feedback
• Evidence from the private sector indicates that 360° feedback is beneficial.
• 360° feedback takes place in almost all Fortune 500 organisations.

Click here to see a bibliography of relevant texts.

Facilitator Training

It is recommended that appraisers are trained in 360 for the process to be successful. Facilitators/ Appraisers need to know how to interpret the reports and to encourage the 360 doctor to reflect on results in a positive manner. Facilitators/ Appraisers also need to know what to do for Clinical Governance purposes if a doctor has received very low scores that indicate a problem.

We are able to provide a 3 hour training session for groups of up to 20 people. The training aims to:

• Define the 360 degrees process
• Explore the importance of 360 degrees for doctors
• Explore the benefits of linking 360 degrees with assessment, appraisal and revalidation
• Understand the process and how to prepare for the 360 degrees feedback session
• Develop feedback skills
• System familiarisation