What patients' complaints and praise tell the health practitioner: implications for health care quality. A qualitative research study

Abstract

Objective: In order to identify which health care aspects play a role in patient satisfaction and quality of health care, the present study analyses a large number of instances of complaint and praise.

Design and setting: One thousand two hundred and thirty-five instances of complaint and one thousand five hundred thirty-six of praise submitted from patients or other souces (i.e. a patient's family member or a legal representative) to a northern-Italian hospital were analysed.

Main outcome measures: We adopted Reader and colleagues' (2014) patients' complaint taxonomy, in conjunction with a detailed content analysis of relationship and communication of information aspects.

Results: The most frequent causes of complaint concerned care system management (68.1%), particularly the time taken to access treatment, and relationship aspects (52.8%). The importance of relationship aspects was confirmed by the expression of gratitude through praise (89%). The most critical factor of the relationship domain was effective communication of information to the patient (39.3%). Frequently patients complained of: (i) having received information that was inconsistent with the truth, (ii) having had difficulty in obtaining information, and (iii) untimely communication of information. Clinical aspects did not seem to be the main factors that triggered a complaint (36,8%), and, when indicated, they were almost always associated with relationship issues.

Conclusions: This study indicates that not only complaints, but also instances of praise, are a potentially important source of information regarding health care aspects that play a role in patient satisfaction and quality of care. Our findings underline the relevance of relationship aspects in determining patients' satisfaction with the care received. In particular, health practitioners should focus their attention on how information is understood, translated and applied by patients.

Keywords: communication in health care; medical errors; patient satisfaction; patients’ complaints; patients’ praise; patient–doctor relationship; quality of health care.