Preparing for the MSF
You need to agree a date to conduct the MSF with your Educational or Clinical Supervisor and set aside time after the closing date so you can discuss the feedback generated.
Complete the self-assessment and then select the respondents.
- In non-primary care placements, you will need to select 5 clinicians and 5 non-clinicians who know your work well. It is recognised that identifying 5 non-clinicians might be more challenging in some posts, in which case more clinicians may be asked. Your respondents should come from a variety of roles and include people with a range of seniority.
- In primary care, 5 clinicians (usually GPs, though your responders should be representative of the team in which you work, so may include other clinicians) and 5 non-clinicians are required and again it is advised you choose people who know your work through working alongside you. It is recommended you ask more than 10 people, i.e. 15 people to ensure you get 10 responses.
- From your Portfolio you will need to start a survey and complete your self-assessment. You will need to add your colleagues' details (name, email address and role). Once you have added at least 10 colleagues, you will be able to send an email invite to your respondents through the Portfolio. Respondents need to click the link in the email to complete the survey. Their answers are anonymous, but please note your supervisor will be able to see details of people invited to complete the survey.
Using MSF feedback
Your Educational Supervisor will have access to the anonymised results once the MSF closes. Once authorised by the Educational Supervisor, the results will be available to you through your Portfolio.
You will then have a feedback discussion with your Clinical or Educational Supervisor and an opportunity to reflect on the results. You can record this discussion and the resulting action plan in your Learning Log / PDP.
Multi-Source Feedback FAQs
You will need to complete one MSF in ST1, one in ST2 and one in ST3. During ST3, you will also be required to complete a leadership MSF.
This is so you can compare how you think you score in the areas concerned to the scores given to you by your colleagues. This requirement has been set by the GMC.
If you are sure that this is not yourself who has done this then it may be that another colleague has done this by mistake. If you contact the colleague who is subject of the MSF they can add you again onto their survey.
10 respondents are needed for each MSF. This should normally be 5 clinicians and 5 non clinicians. It is recognised that to find 5 non-clinicians in a non-primary care post might be difficult and in this situation it would be acceptable to ask more clinicians. 10 replies are the minimum number and the assessment will not count without this number. A range of assessors clinical and non-clinical should be invited.
For each MSF we would recommend asking more than 10 people to ensure you do reach the minimum number.
You need to submit details of the minimum number of colleagues AND complete your self-assessment before the system will let you send out the survey invitations.
If you log into to your Portfolio and visit the survey setup page you will see how many of your colleagues have responded but not which individuals.
The Portfolio automatically sends out reminders if colleagues have not responded within 10 days of the initial invitation.
This means that you have had enough recipients to be able to complete the survey. You don't have to close the survey and can wait longer to give more colleagues the chance to respond. Once the survey is closed, if any of your colleagues try and complete the survey they will be notified that it is has been completed. Your Educational Supervisor (ES) will be notified when you have closed the survey and they will be able to review this before releasing it to you.
Whilst we want MSFs to be anonymous, you may be able to identify individuals who have written certain comments. We would suggest discussing this with your ES should this occur.
Your colleague will not see any names in the completed summary report.
Data is held securely and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations.