Inside self‐regulation: peer review (visitatie) by Dutch medical specialists Available to Purchase

To deepen our insight into the Dutch system of visitatie, a doctors‐led and ‐owned external peer review mechanism through site visits, a process evaluation was performed. The study focussed on the practice‐specific recommendations for improvement as the measurable outcome of the peer review process, the attitude of medical specialists towards visitatie, and towards the recommendations. Medical specialists’ positive attitudes towards visitatie hold promise for the implementation of the recommendations for improvement, an essential final step in the process. In order to achieve improvements tailor made implementation strategies need to be offered. Specialty societies and hospital managers could play a role in facilitating improvement.