BWPO, CFDD Launch Faculty Review Program- Clinical & Research News - For and about the Physicians and Researchers of Brigham and Women's HospitalBWPO, CFDD Launch Faculty Review Program- Clinical & Research News - For and about the Physicians and Researchers of Brigham and Women's Hospital

Skip to contents

BWPO, CFDD Launch Faculty Review Program

In an effort to provide all BWH clinical and research faculty with feedback on performance and guidance for professional growth, the Brigham and Women’s Physicians Organization (BWPO) and the Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (CFDD) this year launched an institution-wide undertaking to ensure all faculty members participate in an annual career review.

There are four efforts or programs connected to this approach to support faculty development now underway:

  • Annual career reviews, which some departments have been doing for years, are one aspect.

  • Provider Services last year streamlined and centralized provider evaluations which meet and exceed state and federal requirements.

  • Surgery and Rheumatology are piloting 360-degree faculty reviews with the Center for Professionalism and Peer Support.

  • The CFDD is piloting a mentoring leadership program for faculty mentors.


Lawrence C. Tsen, MD,
and Stanley W. Ashley, MD

“This is a wide-ranging, collaborative effort to ensure consistency across departments and provide our faculty—both research and clinical faculty—with feedback to help them define and achieve career goals,” said Jessica Dudley, MD, chief medical officer of the BWPO.

Dudley and Barbara Bierer, MD, senior vice president, Research at BWH and director of the CFDD, co-chaired the 14-member faculty annual career review task force that examined existing department reviews for faculty, credentialing requirements and available resources.

“We know from anecdotal evidence and the data from our 2008 CFDD faculty survey that, as an institution, we can do better in providing our faculty with effective feedback and support for career development,” Bierer said.

“The annual career review is a two-way career conference about goals and directions, not a strict performance evaluation,” Dudley said.

Annual Career Reviews

Approximately 2,000 faculty members will be matched with a reviewer and each career review will include four components: confirmation of credentialing status, academic progress, self evaluation and reviewer feedback. Department leadership will assign reviewers to faculty and can tailor the elements of the review to their departments. Designated reviewers will be trained in how to provide career feedback effectively.

The BWPO and CFDD are offering training sessions to help department designated reviewers learn how to provide feedback effectively during career reviews. More than a dozen faculty leaders attended an effective feedback pilot training program in January, and several more sessions will be offered in coming months.

In addition, the BWPO and CFDD are developing a Web site with resources and tips for both reviewers and reviewees. There will be suggestions on how to prepare for your review, such as outlining goals and objectives and updating your CV. Each annual career conference is expected to last one hour, plus the time for the reviewer and reviewee to read or prepare the review form.

FPPE, OPPE

Last year, Provider Services and hospital departments restructured medical staff performance evaluations in a way that meets and exceeds Joint Commission standards for focused professional practice evaluation (FPPE) and ongoing professional practice evaluation (OPPE).

Focused evaluations are to be completed with initial granting of privileges or granting of new privileges. Physicians, physician assistants and advance practice nurses also are evaluated continually over the course of their appointment through ongoing evaluations. Departments must address the six core competencies as identified by both the ACGME and The Joint Commission in both the FPPE and the OPPE: Patient Care, Medical Knowledge, Practice Based Learning and Improvement, Interpersonal and Communication Skills, Professionalism and Systems-Based Practice.

While Joint Commission-required OPPEs are linked to the new annual career review effort, they are separate events.

Mentoring, 360-Evaluations

Surgery and Rheumatology are piloting 360-degree faculty reviews with the Center for Professionalism and Peer Support. In addition, the CFDD is piloting a mentoring leadership program for faculty mentors.

The CFDD has selected Jon Borus, MD, BWH’s director of medical education, and Ellen Seely, MD, vice chair for faculty development in the Department of Medicine, to serve as facilitators of a new Faculty Mentoring Leadership Program. Borus and Seely are joined by 16 faculty mentors in a peer learning environment to discuss mentoring relationships, tools and resources to enhance their skills as mentors. It is anticipated that some participants will lead similar peer mentoring group sessions next year as the program follows a train-the-trainer model.

Rheumatology and Surgery are piloting a 360-evaluation process with an outside vendor, the Miami-based Physician Development Program. Through a secure and confidential online tool, participating physicians will be evaluated by approximately 20 colleagues on teamwork, professionalism and interpersonal communication.

“We will be able to identify potential trouble areas and work with those people and limit disruptive behavior and recognize faculty whom their peers consider to be exceptional,” said Jo Shapiro, MD, director of the Center for Professionalism and Peer Support.

Ultimately, these separate efforts are aligned to provide feedback and guidance to faculty on their career track with consistency across the institution, and the CFDD and BWPO are developing resources and infrastructure to help make that happen.