Peer Evaluations

[GeminiTwinRN, BSN]

how many of you work in hospitals where they have institued (or have always done) peer evaluations as a part of your annual evaluation?

personally, having just gone through my annual evaluation, it is painfully obvious to me that the "peer evaluation tool" is nothing more than a personality contest. the thought that a personality conflict can affect my job security or my percentage of raise raises my hackles more than a little bit.

do many of you have this "tool" in use in your hospitals, and if so, do you find them to be similar to what i describe? or are they instead, valuable tools of reliable information from your peers?

thank you for your input.

eta: i just wanted to mention that the peer evals are handed out to both rn's and techs. so the techs are evaluating our performance as rn's, and whether or not we meet "competency" or not.. ?? weird.

[jessiern, BSN, RN]

We do peer evals, but it is RN to RN, or tech to tech (RN's may do techs and LPN just because we have a mostly RN staff). We only use it in the hiring process. I think it can be useful. We had one RN that wasn't hired because the staff agreed the personality would clash would others already employed. He was hired at another local facility, and afriend of mine works their and says he is negligent of patients, and picks fights with the other staff members. People like that are not good for morale. Doesn't always work, but it helped in that situation.

[Batman24]

I wouldn't mind it as a tool for hiring outside staff as Jessie's employer does. It gives the nurses a say in who is hired. That can be a very valuable tool.

I don't like it for employees that are already on staff. I am also firmly against subordinates evaluating those in a position of authority over them. At the very least it should be those in same positions evaluating others in the same position, but I don't even like that. I think all of this is a recipe for disaster. Many will not be able to keep their personal feelings out of it. Jealousy could also be another big factor. If people have complaints they should handle it as it happens and privately.

[JaneyW]

They had just started it at the hospital I used to work for, but it was only used for personal improvement and not for raises.

[fultzymom]

I work in a LTC facility but we use the Peer Evaluations. I am not sure how well they work. To me, it just seems as if it is a way for your co-workers to tell you how they feel. We are allowed to read them. So if you are any good at remenbering whose handwriting is whose. I do happen to recognize handwriting well so I knew what each and everyone said about me--and who said it.

[LydiaNN]

I worked in a place that did them once. Not just multiple choice, either, but open-ended. One person said that I can be arrogant. How helpful and constructive that was.

We didn't see what was written, though; it was all presented to us in a typed document so there was no way of knowing who said what; except, of course, I knew perfectly well who said that I can be arrogant. It didn't much in the way of relationship building.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

We have peer evaluations but I don't think it is used well because we choose who to give will evaluate us. When it was time for my evaluation, I rec'd 3 forms and choose who to give them to. Now, I choose people that I knew would give me honest feedback, but I know some people who just give it to their 3 closet friends who just tell fill the form out stating that that person does everything well.

I don't think this is effective - if I need to work on something, I want to know it!

Once our form are filled out, they are given to the Admin Assistant who types them out so I don't know exactly who said what, but as I know who I gave the forms to, I can figure it out!

[dream'n, BSN, RN]

I don't like them at all. I think they can create an uneasiness between staff if not very carefully handled. I've seen staff lose confidence in their co-workers because of them. And I am not a watchdog for administration against my fellow nurses, unless the nurse is abusive, unsafe, or engaged in illegal activites, and if that were the case I wouldn't have waited for a peer-review to report it.

Now I could see if perhaps the supervisor used them as food-for-thought maybe, to see if certain themes are contained in many of the responses regarding a certain employee and then use that as a guide to closely observe and verify those things herself. But that is not how I've seen it used in the past. Usually it's presented as "some of your co-workers" feel this way about you, even if it is only one or two people. And it's hard to argue against an invisible foe.

[nicunana]

We do peer evaluations. First, you are a given a self evaluation to complete, which is then shared with 1 nurse chosen by you and 2 more nurses chosen by management. On the self eval, you must document why you are assigning the point value you have chosen to each performance standard. The 3 nurses review your self eval and then meet with you (all at the same time) to discuss it or add comments of their own. If they disagree with what you have written, they need to support their reasons for doing so. Unless you are way off base on your self assesment, it's highly unusual that there will be a significant change. For the most part, everyone takes it seriously and tries to be as fair and constructive as possible. The self eval and peer evals are then turned into management for final review. The final point value will determine your percentage of raise. There was a lot of balking at first, and fear that it would be a popularity contest or a hate fest, but it really has worked well. After all, your peers do work more closely with you than your manager does and are better in tune with your strengths and weaknesses. They also understand what you are up against on a daily basis at the bedside!

[GIRN]

Our hospital did them for 3 years but never handled them properly. The employees received a stack of about 35 blank evals and were asked to evaluate EVERYONE. That was quite a job. They evaluated by a number 1, 2, or 3. Then, without signing names, they could write anything they wanted to write in the comment section. Management would then print the comments and scores and hand them back to be read by the employee. What a nightmare! I had never seen morale so low in that department! People said some very rude comments that had absolutely no constructive merit. Good solid employees were in tears. And...because you had no idea who wrote what....you were upset with people that maybe had nothing to do with the comment. It was totally worthless!

In response, management held a seminar to explain how to write constructive evals. We asked management the second year to give us a 'safey net' and pull out the comments that were unprofessional and without merit. They refused and said we needed to develop tougher skin. That year, many people refused to read their evals....the evals went right in the shredder so the people wouldn't have to go through that nightmare again.

Management insisted on doing the evals for a third year. This time....less than 10% of the staff participated in even filling them out. The masses had spoken. Peer Evaluations can be a powerful tool but only if they're provided in a safe environment and management supervises and weeds out the vindictive harrasment. With the uproar those evaluations created, I'm really surprised our hospital didn't have a lawsuit on their hands for allowing and nurturing such a hostile environment

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

Yes, per evals are an indicator on how well you have established positive relationships with your peers. This is an important part of being a part of the healthcare team.

[TRAMA1RN]

My experience with peer evaluations do not work, as I have filled them out and really do try to be objective I have been the victim as well as others of peers who take the opportunity to be evil and use it as a tool to vent their personal dislikes of others irreguardless of whether the employee is good at their job and responsible.