Patient and relative complaints in a hospital emergency department: a 4-year analysis

Abstract

ÖZET Amaç Hasta ve yakınlarının şikâyetleri, hizmet iyileştirmeleri için önemli bir bilgi kaynağıdır. Bu çalışmada; düzeltici önlemler almak amacıyla, hasta ve yakınlarının acil servis hakkında şikâyetleri değerlendirildi. Gereç ve Yöntem SUMMARY ObjectivesComplaints by patients and their relatives are an important source of information for service improvement. In order to take remedial measures, the present study evaluated the complaints of patients and their relatives about our emergency department (ED). MethodsRecords of all patient complaints, from June 2008 to June 2012, were retrieved from the Quality Improvement Unit (QIU) archives. All complainants were contacted by phone. The socio-demographic profiles of complainants, their reasons for complaints, and the outcomes were analyzed using the SPSS statistical package. ResultsThe results revealed that 54 complaints have been made against our ED over four years relating to medical care, staff attitudes, waiting time, and financial reasons. Of the complainants, 75.9% were male (n=41), and 24.1% (n=13) were female. The majority (29.7%, 20.4%) of the complaints were due to medical care and attitude problems. Most complaints were made for green code patients (55.6%). The majority of complaints were about emergency physicians (38.9%). Complaint frequency was 0.18 per 1.000 visits. ConclusionsComplaints are potentially useful quality assurance tools, and can identify remediable system flaws. The main causes of complaints are medical care, staff attitude, and waiting time, and many of these causes are remediable.

Customers’ Complaints and its Determinants: The Case of a Training Educational Hospital in Iran

“…Usually more than 50% of complaints are presented by patients' relatives. In studies conducted in England, Singapore, Turkey and Iran (Tehran) this number ranged from 50-86% (10,15,16). This might be because of the patients' health status which does not usually allow them to report and pursue their complaints.…”

“…Montini et al in Boston showed that communication failure was also the second cause of complaints (2); while in Italy, Victoria and Singapore as well as Turkey this issue was accounted for most of complaints (2,(9)(10)(11)15,16,23). Improper communication or providing incomplete or inappropriate explanations are usually the consequences of patients' dissatisfaction with personnel behavior.…”

“…Performing educational workshops targeting at professional needs and informing patients about proper way of communication with healthcare staff can reduce communication problems and consequent complaints. Improving listening skills and patience will help healthcare staff in their communication with patients (16).…”

“…An analysis on the patients' complaints by Zenginin in a Turkish survey showed that the main issue of complaint was about "medical care" in which 16.7%, 7.4% and 5.6% were about treatment dissatisfaction, misdiagnosis and examination dissatisfaction, respectively (16). Wong stated that 76% of complaints related to dissatisfaction from health services were not accredited.…”

“…Wrong or late diagnosis, errors in prescription drug, weak and inappropriate therapeutic techniques or approaches are the main causes of this category of complaints (26,27). In most of these cases, implementing proper diagnostic and therapeutic approaches along with good communication skills can reduce complaints significantly (16).…”