Table 1.

Characteristics of effective feedback compared to practitioner views about the results of patient experience surveys.

Characteristics of effective feedback17,23–24	Practitioner views on patient experience surveys
Specific clear goals	Confusion over aims
Feedback has a clear purpose	Survey ‘feedback’ reflects competing agendas and purposes
Feedback is meaningful	Difficult to interpret. What do the results mean to me?
Low task complexity	Doctor–patient communication viewed as highly complex. Survey ‘feedback’ viewed as simplistic
Little threat to self	Perceived as threat to self