Emergency department complaint frequency: Variation by patient median household income

Dennis, B J; Overton, David; Schwartz, Lawrence R; Strait, Michelle

doi:10.1016/s0196-0644(05)82796-9

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Other investigators have reported ED complaint rates ranging from 0.26 to 3.8 complaints/1000 patients 2,8–10 . Hence, the rate reported in the present study is consistent with rates reported by others.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Complaints from emergency department patients largely result from treatment and communication problems

2002

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: Emergency department patient complaints are often justified and may lead to apology, remedial action or compensation. The aim of the present study was to analyse emergency department patient complaints in order to identify procedures or practices that require change and to make recommendations for intervention strategies aimed at decreasing complaint rates. Methods: We undertook a retrospective analysis of patient complaints from 36 Victorian emergency departments during a 61 month period. Data were obtained from the Health Complaint Information Program (Health Services Commissioner). Results: In all, 2419 emergency department patients complained about a total of 3418 separate issues (15.4% of all issues from all hospital departments). Of these, 1157 complaints (47.8%) were received by telephone and 829 (34.3%) were received by letter; 1526 (63.1%) complaints were made by a person other than the patient. Highest complaint rates were received from patients who were female, born in non‐English‐speaking countries and very young or very old. One thousand one hundred and forty‐one issues (33.4%) related to patient treatment, including inadequate treatment (329 issues) and inadequate diagnosis (249 issues); 1079 (31.6%) issues related to communication, including poor staff attitude, discourtesy and rudeness (444 issues); 407 (11.9%) issues related to delay in treatment. Overall, 2516 issues (73.6%) were resolved satisfactorily, usually by explanation or apology. Only 59 issues (1.7%) resulted in a procedure or policy change. Remedial action was taken in 109 issues (3.2%) and compensation was paid to eight patients. Conclusions: Communication remains a significant factor in emergency department patient dissatisfaction. While patient complaints have resulted in major changes to policy and procedure, research and intervention strategies into communication problems are indicated. In the short term, focused staff training is recommended. See Commentary, page 9.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Complaints from emergency department patients largely result from treatment and communication problems

2002

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Incidence (per 1,000) Culhane and Harding (1994) 3-5 Mayer and Zimmermann (1999) 2.6 Dennis et al (1992) 1.65-3.14…”

Section: Complaint Frequencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Customer satisfaction

Vukmir

2006

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Dennis evaluated 277,210 patients to not only define a complaint frequency of 1.65-3.14 per 1,000 visits, as well as a highly significant association between income and complaint frequency in direct proportion (p = 0.0000058). 23 Clearly, as a group, those residing in higher income areas designated by zip code analysis generate more patient complaints, warranting both an understanding of this benchmark to set reasonable expectations and define an improvement plan.…”

Section: Demographic Profilementioning

confidence: 99%