Peer and expert opinion and the reliability of implicit case review.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the interrater and intergroup agreement in judging physician maloccurrence and compliance with standards of care using the implicit case review process.


METHODS
Mail survey with questionnaire.


METHODS
Case reviews and questionnaires were mailed to 140 board-certified ophthalmologists and 140 board-certified ophthalmologists with fellowship training.


METHODS
Agreement judging maloccurrence and compliance with standard of care within each group and between general ophthalmologists and specialists.


RESULTS
Ninety-seven (35%) questionnaires were returned. Overall, 35% of respondents believed that ophthalmologists in the case reviews committed an error of either commission or omission. Forty-five percent of reviewers believed that physicians did not meet the standard of care. There was good within-group agreement for finding clinical error in management and not meeting the standard of care for all groups (kappa coefficient range: 0.55-0.83; P = < 0.004) except retina specialists (kappa coefficient = 0.12; P = 0.2).


CONCLUSIONS
Unstructured implicit case review is not a reliable method for determining physician error or for measuring compliance with standards of care. The process is susceptible to bias, and results may vary with reviewer background or training. Unstructured implicit case review needs to be regarded as a rough screening tool and used accordingly.
Margo
Curtis E
CE
Department of Ophthalmology, Watson Clinic, 1600 Lakeland Hills Blvd., Lakeland, Florida 33805, USA..
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000592:standards*; D018024:Peer Review, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States