Patients' complaints regarding healthcare encounters and communication.
Lisa Skär, Siv Söderberg
PMID 29599998WHAT IT FOUND
Patients complained of being ignored, given unfamiliar medical terms and excluded from care decisions.
Nurses were among professionals criticised. Most complaint responses showed no intention to change; only 29 of 587 complaints were described as successfully handled.
Key findings
01Of 337 complaints describing negative attitudes or behaviour, 77% were lack of empathy; of 333 communication complaints, 55% were about not being involved in care.
02Of the 490 answers received, 461 (94%) showed no intention to act or correct the situation; only 29 of 587 complaints were described as successfully handled.
03Patients asked for understandable information, time for questions and involvement in decisions; complaints described medical terminology and stressful information without questions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The data were one-sided patient complaints, not independently verified accounts of what happened in the encounter. All complaints came from one Patients' Advisory Committee in northern Sweden over three years, so they may not represent other countries, regions or services. The original PAC filing was not standardised; researchers had to read all 1792 complaints to identify relevant ones. 38 of 625 selected complaints were excluded because they contained only a short note. The study describes complaints and written responses; it does not test whether apology, communication training or patient-centred care changes outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that nurses are the main cause of complaints or that apologies will prevent complaints. The study analysed one-sided patient complaints from one Swedish committee and did not test any intervention. It shows what patients complained about and how many answers did not commit to change.