Open AccessPatients’ complaints regarding healthcare encounters and communication
Author(s) -
Skär Lisa,
Söderberg Siv
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
nursing open
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.55
H-Index - 12
ISSN - 2054-1058
DOI - 10.1002/nop2.132
Subject(s) - content analysis , health care , health professionals , descriptive statistics , family medicine , statistical analysis , descriptive research , medicine , psychology , nursing , sociology , economics , economic growth , social science , statistics , mathematics
Aim To explore patient‐reported complaints regarding communication and healthcare encounters and how these were responded to by healthcare professionals. Design A retrospective and descriptive design was used in a County Council in northern part of Sweden. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Methods The content of 587 patient‐reported complaints was included in the study. Descriptive statistical analysis and a deductive content analysis were used to investigate the content in the patient‐reported complaints. Results The results show that patients’ dissatisfaction with encounters and communication concerned all departments in the healthcare organization. Patients were most dissatisfied when they were not met in a professional manner. There were differences between genders, where women reported more complaints regarding their dissatisfaction with encounters and communication compared with men. Many of the answers on the patient‐reported complaints lack a personal apology and some of the patients failed to receive an answer to their complaints.