Patient complaints in the adult emergency department of a tertiary referral hospital

Reclamaciones de pacientes en el servicio de emergencia adultos de un hospital de tercer nivel de atención

Abstract

Introduction: The critical condition of the patient who presents to an emergency department creates a need to provide timely, safe and warm care. Failing to meet these expectations causes patient dissatisfaction, reflected by complaints, which are mostly justified and lead to opportunities for improvement and corrective measures. Objective: To analyze complaints presented by patients and their relatives at the Adult Emergency Department of the Edgardo Rebagliati Martins National Hospital. Methods: Nonexperimental, descriptive, cross-sectional study. Our sample was comprised of 109 complaints between May and November 2019. We used a data collection sheet based on the information in the complaints book for health care services. Results: We identified 187 reasons for complaints. Our results show that direct relatives filed 47.7%; 43% involved Internal Medicine consultations. In the dimension “inadequate treatment by healthcare workers,” 13.9% of patients complained about impolite and rude treatment. In the dimension “delay in care”, 12.8% were discontent due to the lack of timely care. In the dimension “user disagreement with care or treatment received,” 10.2% were dissatisfied with the care they were provided. 60.6% of complaints were satisfactorily resolved within the period specified by current regulations. Conclusion: Most complaints were related to the direct care of the patient.