Patient complaints can strengthen Danish hospitals: new research points to the future of care
Systematic review of complaints opens the door for improved communication, better care and a more patient-centred health service in Denmark.
Researchers from OPEN, University of Southern Denmark, have applied a new approach to systematising patient complaints, which can help improve patient safety and quality in hospitals across the country.
Following a trial period, Odense University Hospital – Svendborg Hospital (OUH) is now ready to implement the method to learn more about patient complaints.
From individual cases to a holistic perspective
Until now, patient complaints in Denmark have been handled individually, but a new study from the research unit OPEN shows that a systematic approach to complaints can change how hospitals involve patient information in the development of patient safety and quality in healthcare.
- Using this kind of patient feedback in a systematic way is completely innovative and something that wouldn’t have been done otherwise. Currently, we derive our learning from individual cases, but rarely is it done systematically or across complaints, says Søren Bie Bogh, associate professor in OPEN.
- Usually, hospitals use staff observations to improve quality, but patient complaints give us important details that we might otherwise overlook. These details can help us see where the health service needs to be improved.
How does it work?
Instead of looking at complaints as isolated incidents, researchers have come up with a standardised method for analysing and identifying patterns and recurring issues based on patient experiences. This method paves the way for a patient-based understanding of where improvements are needed and provides an opportunity to discuss how they can be implemented.
- In our project, we have analysed and categorised several thousand complaint letters from patients. This has given us a clear picture of the problem areas that patients experience in the hospital service, says Lars Morsø, associate professor in OPEN.
- Our analysis includes not only the official complaints sent to the Danish Patient Complaints Agency, but also emails from hospital patients or their relatives. By using this broad and systematic approach, we have been able to identify patterns and trends in different problem areas, both across the entire hospital service and in individual departments.
Meet the researcher
Søren Bie Bogh is associate professor in OPEN - Open Patient data Explorative Network, Department of Clinical Research and Odense University Hospital (OUH).
Meet the researcher
Lars Morsø is associate professor in OPEN - Open Patient data Explorative Network, Department of Clinical Research and Odense University Hospital (OUH).
”This makes it easier to apply knowledge from complaints cases to learning, which is valuable for future patients and also valuable for the staff who want to carry out their work as well and as safely as possible.
Concrete results
In collaboration with the researchers in OPEN, Odense University Hospital, the only Danish hospital participating in the study, has applied the method and systematically categorised all patient complaints and compensation claims since 2017.
As a result of the researchers’ work, several departments are now interested in following up on complaints on an ongoing basis. They have requested additional reports and more detailed analyses specifically for their departments. This means that the perspectives of the patients that we gleaned from the complaints are already being utilised and taken into account in several places.
Learning for the future
The collaboration on coding patient complaints will continue in 2024 at OUH.
- The work carried out by OPEN in recent years, with a systematic approach to complaints and compensation cases, is extremely valuable for OUH. The reports give clinicians a good overview of the distribution of cases and points of criticism, thus enabling them to respond more quickly, says Medical Director Bjarne Dahler-Eriksen.
- This makes it easier to apply knowledge from complaints cases to learning, which is valuable for future patients and also valuable for the staff who want to carry out their work as well and as safely as possible.
More about the research
Previous research has shown that it is possible to identify both areas where complaints accumulate and areas where less serious complaints are overlooked.
Most recently, the research group has shown that their method can be used to find ‘signals’ in patient complaints and can be used across departments and specialties.
A signal points to a specific area where there is a higher incidence of complaints than one would expect in normal circumstances. It can be used as an indication of where there may be problems or issues, and it can guide future intervention and improvement projects.
For example, the study found a signal indicating an overrepresentation of safety problems (errors, incidents and personnel skills) during the examination and diagnosis phase. This signal was present on various types of wards and also prominent over extended periods of time.
This suggests that systematised patient complaint letters can be used for learning at more than the individual case level and instead focus on the patterns and trends that can be uncovered by systemisation.