Collaborator Feedback CQI Committee

The goal of the Collaborator Feedback Committee is to periodically gather input from Department of Biostatistics collaborators on concrete ways that the department might improve its processes and interactions with our clinical colleagues.

Goals

• Main goal: Evaluate and, where necessary, improve biostats practices and processes to ensure the best working relationships possible with clinical colleagues
• Our purpose is NOT to blame individuals or groups for problems or to create division; we just want to see what specific areas we can improve on to improve both our collaborators' and our department members' work lives
• Also discussed individual collaborator feedback for purposes of promotion, annual evaluation; while individual feedback would be extremely valuable for these purposes, it is not the purpose of this committee

Audience

• REDCap survey would be sent to list of all BCC payors + VICTR collaborators in the past 12 months? How best to get a list of relevant PIs?
• Discussed treating VICTR and BCC/collaboration plan PIs differently
  • Experience for VICTR PIs is likely to be different from PIs with long-term or non-VICTR projects
  • Perhaps one survey with some consistent questions, and branching logic for VICTR vs. long-term questions

General Survey Notes

• Keep anonymous! - more likely to get honest, constructive, specific feedback
• Balance getting plenty of information with concise survey
• Note that all questions below are just possibilities and, if used, wording is not final

Preliminary Questions

• For non-VICTR respondents:
  • Are you in the BCC, and if so, have you always been in the BCC, or did you switch from a collaboration plan model? Note: We feel that there might be an important difference in satisfaction here - PIs who switched into the BCC may be more or less satisfied with their current experience than those who have known no different. We are not planning to ask longtime collaborators how they feel about the BCC or their opinion on the switch; merely a demographic question.
  • Have you recently stopped your collaboration with the Department of Biostatistics, and if so, why? (Ran out of funds, project came to an end, unsatisfied with experience...)
• For VICTR respondents:
  • Was your first experience with the Department through a clinic?
  • Other questions?

Administration Experience Question Possibilities

• Was your initial experience (setting up a BCC contract, getting VICTR logistics worked out, etc) straightforward? (aim here: did they have clear directions on how to get involved with our department vs. feeling confused about who to talk to and what to do)
• Other admin process questions - talk to Linda S., Seth, Linda W., ??

Statistics Experience Question Possibilities

• Are the statistician(s) you work with professional and proactive in their interactions with you? (e.g., timely response to emails and phone calls, active involvement where appropriate in meetings, professional demeanor)
• Do the statistician(s) you work with generally meet established deadlines? (perhaps combine with above question?)
• Do the statistician(s) you work with make efforts to understand the science driving the data and research questions?
• Do the statistician(s) you work with provide clearly written and formatted analysis reports and explain the methods they used?
• Do the statistician(s) you work with assist your team in improving the level of science and, where applicable, the likelihood of publication in a higher-tier journal?

IT Experience Question Possibilities

• Branched from question asking whether PI has worked with IT in addition to stats
• Need to talk to Dale and the CSAs to get good ideas here