Translation of the Medical Leadership Competency Framework into a multisource feedback form for doctors in training using a verbal protocol technique.

This study describes the use of think-aloud techniques to capture the reactions of doctors in training, educational supervisors and clinical directors to a draft multisource feedback (MSF) tool. The tool is based on the competencies described in the Medical Leadership Competency Framework (MLCF), which is now a part of most postgraduate medical curricula. In order to reflect properly the extent to which doctors in training have developed the appropriate competencies, the MSF needs to modify the terminology used in the MLCF. This study of 24 doctors, of whom nine were doctors in training, showed that the draft MSF tested needed to be modified in order to differentiate clearly between situations where the assessed doctor had not had adequate opportunity to demonstrate competence, and those where competence was deemed inadequate. More senior doctors tended to favour longer, more detailed MSF questionnaires, possibly reflecting their experience of how MSF can prove valuable in personal development. However, some educational supervisors found an estimated completion time of 25 minutes to be a deterrent. Five doctors from general practice, two of whom were trainees, were included in this small qualitative study, which identified a greater facility for observing and assessing leadership competency development in primary care than in hospital specialities. This finding needs to be tested in a large-scale study of a modified MSF tool.