Exploring complaints by female and male patients at Swedish hospitals using a probabilistic graphical model

Patient complaints about communication in cancer care settings: Hidden between the lines

OBJECTIVES

To investigate patient complaints in cancer care settings reported to patient advisory committees (PACs) and describe the frequency and content of communication failures across all reports.

METHODS

Content analysis, with a summative approach, was applied to cancer care complaints (2016-2020) by 692 patients to PACs in one Swedish healthcare region.

RESULTS

More than half the patients reported communication failures. Patients reported not receiving proper information, not being listened to, and being treated disrespectfully or impersonally. Communication failures occurred in different stages of the patients' cancer care, from diagnostic workup to end-of-life. Compared with the results of the PACs, communication failures were underreported, and were often combined with complaints in other categories.

CONCLUSIONS

Communication failures are hidden "between the lines" and do not appear clearly in existing reporting systems. Healthcare must utilize the knowledge conveyed by patient complaints and create conditions and environments that support healthcare providers in delivering person-centered care.

PRACTICE IMPLICATION

A summary picture of patients' complaints in Swedish cancer care is provided. These results could be used to further improve the patient complaint system. Above all, the results could serve as a "wake-up call" about the importance of communication and a valuable resource in improving cancer care.

Analysis of The Complaints of The Patients and Their Relatives to Healthcare Professionals

ABSTRACT Objective The aim of this study is to determine the complaints of patients and their relatives, to provide necessary measures and to find solutions. Material and Methods It was retrospectively analyzed and conducted as a single-center study. The complaints of patients and their relatives who applied to the Patient Rights Unit, Ministry of Health Communication Center, Prime Ministry Communication Center, Presidential Communication Center from the hospital medical records between 2018 and 2019 were examined. Data were analyzed on IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 package program. Results 1385 applications were examined. Most of the complainants were men (66.1%). The most frequent complainants were between the ages of 20-40 (56.3%), high-school graduates (56.3%), in the self- employed/artisan group (24.2%). The most of the complaints were made application to the Patient Rights Unit (58.7%). Complaints were most common for physicians who in charge of primary care of the patient (49.5%) and least common for consultant physician (0.2%). The most common complaints were about poor attitude (26.9%) and long waiting time (21.7%). Most of the complaints were made in 2019 (n:835), July (n:239) and on Friday (n:326), and also most of the complaints were made against the Department of Pediatrics (n:190 (13.7%)) and Emergency Medicine (n:129 (9.3%). When the complaint-patient ratio was examined, it was perceived that the most complaints were from the laboratory and pathology departments. Conclusion It is concluded that patient rights units are very crucial and they have an important role in evaluating the quality of institutions and determining the existing deficiencies as well as increasing patient satisfaction.

Exploring power shifts as an enabler for a strengthened patient role in quality improvements: a Swedish survey study

Objectives

This study examined the relationship between professionals’ perceptions of a strengthened role for the patient and of patient involvement in quality improvement (QI) and whether professionals’ experiences in improvement science were a moderator on such a relationship.

Design

From a predominantly close-ended, 44-item questionnaire, 4 questions specifically concerning professionals′ perception on patient involvement in QI were analysed.

Setting

Three Swedish regions.

Participants

155 healthcare professionals who had previously participated in courses in improvement science.

Results

The covariate patient involvement was significantly related to a perceived strengthened patient role. There was also a significant interaction effect between degree of patient involvement and professionals’ experience in the area of improvement science on a strengthened patient role. The result shows that there is a relationship between the perceived level of patient involvement in improvements and professionals’ perceptions of a strengthened patient role. In this study, the covariate, perceived patient involvement, was significantly related to experiences of more equal relationships between patients and healthcare professionals. There was also a significant interaction effect between the degree of patient involvement and professionals’ experience in the area of improvement science, for a more equal relationship between patients and healthcare professionals.

Conclusion

Increased patient involvement in QI is a means of strengthening the patient role and supporting a more equal relation between patients and healthcare professionals. Furthermore, empirical evidence shows that the healthcare professionals’ experiences in the area of improvement science support a strengthened patient role and a more equal power relationship, but for this to happen, the mindset of professionals is key. Future research is needed to capture and investigate the experiences from patients and relatives about being involved in QI in healthcare, and to study the effects on quality in care processes.

An Analysis of Complaints in Two Large Tertiary University Teaching Hospital ENT Departments: A Two-Year Retrospective Review

Introduction. Complaints relating to patient care are known to correlate with surgical complication rates and malpractice lawsuits. In a continually evolving health service and on-going financial pressures, identifying current complaint themes could drive future improvements in healthcare delivery.

Learning from complaints in healthcare: a realist review of academic literature, policy evidence and front-line insights

Introduction

A global rise in patient complaints has been accompanied by growing research to effectively analyse complaints for safer, more patient-centric care. Most patients and families complain to improve the quality of healthcare, yet progress has been complicated by a system primarily designed for case-by-case complaint handling.

Aim

To understand how to effectively integrate patient-centric complaint handling with quality monitoring and improvement.

Method

Literature screening and patient codesign shaped the review’s aim in the first stage of this three-stage review. Ten sources were searched including academic databases and policy archives. In the second stage, 13 front-line experts were interviewed to develop initial practice-based programme theory. In the third stage, evidence identified in the first stage was appraised based on rigour and relevance, and selected to refine programme theory focusing on what works, why and under what circumstances.

Results

A total of 74 academic and 10 policy sources were included. The review identified 12 mechanisms to achieve: patient-centric complaint handling and system-wide quality improvement. The complaint handling pathway includes (1) access of information; (2) collaboration with support and advocacy services; (3) staff attitude and signposting; (4) bespoke responding; and (5) public accountability. The improvement pathway includes (6) a reliable coding taxonomy; (7) standardised training and guidelines; (8) a centralised informatics system; (9) appropriate data sampling; (10) mixed-methods spotlight analysis; (11) board priorities and leadership; and (12) just culture.

Discussion

If healthcare settings are better supported to report, analyse and use complaints data in a standardised manner, complaints could impact on care quality in important ways. This review has established a range of evidence-based, short-term recommendations to achieve this.