Abstract:

Patient complaints are a very important source of information for hospitals. Hospitals will have the opportunity to develop and improve themselves by taking into account patient complaints. For this, they need to record patient complaints in detail, evaluate the applications in an objective way, solve the problems of their patients as soon as possible and, if necessary, make changes in their medical and administrative processes. This study was carried out in order to obtain useful information for the hospital management by examining the patient complaint records made to the Patient Rights Unit of a foundation university hospital in Istanbul within a period of one year. In 2021, 1.166.608 patients applied to the hospital, of which 3.332 patients complained and 1.047 patients reported satisfaction. The annual patient complaint application rate was ‰2.88, and the satisfaction reporting rate was ‰0.9. As a result of the examinations, it was concluded that, as in other domestic and international studies on the subject, the complaints mostly stem from the attitudes and behaviors of the personnel (especially the physicians and nurses), and that the administrative units as well as the medical units cause patient complaints. Most of the complaints are caused by preventable problems. It was observed that the number of monthly complaints tended to decrease gradually in the hospital where the research was conducted. The decrease in patient complaints is an indication that the hospital management has taken into account the complaints and improved their medical and administrative processes. It is suggested that the number of complaints can be reduced by making the number of personnel sufficient, determining the job descriptions clearly, and eliminating communication problems by providing the necessary trainings

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