It’s time to flip the script on peer evaluations [PODCAST]

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“It’s time to flip the script on evaluations. How can we shine a light upon the strengths of the wonderful peers we are blessed to work with? How can we amplify their greatness, help them work in their own zone of genius? How can we recognize that we all have different, complementary strengths that overlap so that there are no weaknesses; there are just different approaches or different strengths to mobilize?

When we are all working in our own zones of genius, that’s where we create a culture of well-being.”

Wendy Schofer is a pediatrician.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, “It’s time to flip the script on peer evaluations.”

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Hosted by Kevin Pho, MD, The Podcast by KevinMD shares the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from.

Transcript

Kevin Pho: Hi, and welcome to the show, where we share the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from. My name is Kevin Pho, founder and editor of KevinMD. Rate and review the show at KevinMD.com/rate. Subscribe at KevinMD.com/follow. Today we welcome back on the show Wendy Schofer. She’s a pediatrician. Her latest KevinMD article is titled “It’s time to flip the script on peer evaluations.” Wendy, welcome back to the show.

Wendy Schofer: Thank you, Kevin. It is wonderful to be back here with you, and I feel like we are making some good connections here. It’s like a standing date now.

Kevin Pho: Wonderful. You’re always welcome to come back on the show, and for those who want to hear more about Wendy, just go back and listen to her prior episodes. So I want to jump straight into this article, and it’s titled “It’s time to flip the script on peer evaluations.” Now, for those of you who get a chance to read your article, just walk my audience through it and share the story of why you decided to write it.

Wendy Schofer: Yeah. So, like all of my articles, it’s so much about my personal reflection and experience, and how I’ve recognized that I’m not alone with this. What I really noticed, with my last peer evaluation that was coming up, was how I was so nervous about opening it up, and how I was going to receive what I perceived or anticipated would be criticisms, and how I could improve what needed to be changed in my clinical practice. I started thinking right away of all the things I needed to change, so I was being preemptive on that one.

I just noticed, as I was going through the evaluation, how I was automatically going to where I was subpar on that one-to-five scale. Where were the ones and twos? And there weren’t any, and so I felt relief. Then I was like, “OK, well, three, I guess I’m adequate on some things.” I got some fours, where I was doing better, and then fives, where I was hitting it out of the park. I was just kind of processing all of this, how of course I went to where I was being deficient.

And then I got to the free text, where my colleagues were just writing whatever it is that they wanted, and it was a complete flip, I guess you’d say a flip of the switch. I read it, and it said, “Dr. Schofer is a joy to work with. I love hearing her laugh in one of the patient rooms. Her laughter is contagious.” Somebody else said that my positive attitude is contagious, skilled in pediatric abilities, all these things. And I was like, “Oh, take a deep breath. Hold on a minute. I can’t believe I was so dreading this going into it.” And then I felt like they actually see me, and they see what I’m bringing, and it was really validating for me. It made me think so much more about how we can use peer evaluations to help each other the way that this honestly helped me.

Kevin Pho: So tell me about that peer evaluation process. For those who are outside of our physician world, how often do they occur, and who actually does the evaluating?

Wendy Schofer: That’s a great question. I’ve got to tell you, over COVID, pre-COVID, post-COVID, that’s all different. This is actually the first one that I had received in two years, which is also why I got a little bit apprehensive about it, because it was a long time coming. In my previous roles and previous time frames, pre-COVID, I would receive these evaluations, I would say, every six to 12 months, and it felt like I was always being asked for evaluations, because we would get emailed about different people at different times. So I can’t speak to a particular rotation that it’s on. Everywhere’s a little bit different, and it depends on which colleagues you’re evaluating.

Kevin Pho: Now, you read your evaluation, and a proverbial light bulb went off in terms of how we can use these going forward. Talk more about that.

Wendy Schofer: Yeah, well, it’s something where I realized that this kind of validated an approach that I’ve been taking over the past, I’d say, year or two, where I know what my weaknesses are. I’ve been trained to see them. As physicians, we’re trained to find what’s wrong and fix it, and I’ve always been looking at myself that way: how I can be better, faster, more proficient. But I started looking at my strengths, and it was really something where I have been actively working on truly working in that zone of genius, where my strengths are, and kind of saying, “You know what? If I’m working there, then my weaknesses are meaningless.” It doesn’t mean a thing if I’m in this zone where I’m doing what is most meaningful and the strength for me.

What this peer evaluation really did was help me see that that’s not just something for me. It’s where other people are seeing that too. It’s impacting other people. And so I think that this is something that we should be doing across the board: helping others see their strengths, helping them work in that area where they are working to their strengths, because your strengths are different from my strengths, but together we complement each other, and we can go that much further.

Kevin Pho: So once you read that second part of your peer evaluation, which articulated your strengths, how did that change you as a physician, if it did?

Wendy Schofer: Well, I can feel it right now. It’s just so heartwarming. I mean, honestly, it’s validating. It’s validating in the midst of all this stuff where we’re all questioning our role as physicians, our effectiveness as physicians, our future as physicians. This meant everything to me. I go to work every day with this approach, the thought that nobody’s coming to see me because they’re having the best day. I work in pediatric urgent care. They’re not coming because it’s the best day; there’s something wrong. But I am determined that they will have a better day once they see me.

And that approach is just kind of my mantra in the background. I can see how it’s impacting my patients, and definitely how it’s impacting me, because I know the bar that I’m setting for myself in that interaction. But it’s also impacting my colleagues as well. It’s helping their day. It’s helping the entire environment. And so seeing that free text is really validating that I know I’m on the right path.

Kevin Pho: So for those clinicians who have to perform peer evaluations, what kind of recommendations do you have for them to make it more constructive than what they may be doing?

Wendy Schofer: Yeah. So after I got this peer evaluation, I’ve been receiving more requests for my peers, and I am actively looking at how I can, first of all, fill in the free text, because the little radio buttons and checking ones and fives just don’t have as much meaning as that free text. I am actively going to that section and really highlighting what it is that I see each of my colleagues bringing to the table, to the clinical environment, and how we’re building each other up. It’s looking at their strengths, because a lot of times people have challenges seeing their own strengths, but a lot of us can see it from the outside.

And so I want to really validate them: what it is that I see, and how they make my life better, easier, and more fulfilled. So I’m commenting about dedication, commenting about their enthusiasm, commenting about steadfastness, about their clinical skills, all the different things that they’re bringing in. And as far as I’m concerned, I’m not the one for criticism. Who am I to criticize? I’m really here to build people up, because that’s where we can really shine together.

Kevin Pho: So within this framework of peer review and focusing on strengths, if you were supervising someone where you feel you could constructively see room for improvement, how would you approach that?

Wendy Schofer: Yeah, absolutely. It’s something where I would first be having a conversation. This is not something that I think is appropriate in a written evaluation type of form. I think that’s something to really have a conversation about: what they’re seeing, and what their experience is, because we are so much more critical of ourselves than other people are. And so trying to understand what it is that they’re experiencing and seeing first, I think that’s really the key, instead of me just coming in and saying, “You’ve got to do this differently. You’ve got to do it better.”

I’ve been on the receiving end of that. It didn’t go very far. It just made me question so much more about who I was being as a physician. I’m going back to residency in particular, and the feedback that I received back then, which I’m sure was intended with the best of intentions, but it was not received that way, because we weren’t building something together. It was just me seeing that there were yet additional things that were wrong with me.

And so how can we build that together, build that connection, the communication, and the teamwork? Because ultimately, that’s what medicine is. It’s not about one physician being some superhero, able to do anything anywhere. We’re well beyond that. How can we really identify where we work at our best and then complement ourselves with others? Because it’s all about that team working it together.

Kevin Pho: We’re talking to Wendy Schofer. She’s a pediatrician. Her latest KevinMD article is titled “It’s time to flip the script on peer evaluations.” Wendy, what are some of your take-home messages that you want to leave with the KevinMD audience?

Wendy Schofer: Oh my goodness, I appreciate that opportunity. So I think it’s really an opportunity for us to spotlight what’s going well. Part of that is where I’m looking at the strengths. When we work to our strengths, everything works a lot better. But it’s also just taking that moment to ask ourselves, “Let’s find what we want to focus on. What is the good?” Because when we focus on things, we create more evidence for it. So keep on coming back to that: What’s good? What’s strong? What’s going right? Our brains are always going to offer all the crap that’s going on in the background, but when we have an opportunity to really focus on what we want to see more of, we can amplify that.

Kevin Pho: Wendy, thank you so much for sharing your time and insight again, and thanks again for coming back on the show.

Wendy Schofer: Thank you so much, Kevin. Such a pleasure.

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