ReviewBMJ quality & safety2020
Learning from complaints in healthcare: a realist review of academic literature, policy evidence and front-line insights.
Review in BMJ quality & safety, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Medicolegal Challenges of Facial Plastic Surgery: A Systematic Review.Aesthetic surgery journal · 2025Pooled it
- Understanding healthcare professionals' responses to patient complaints in secondary and tertiary care in the UK: A systematic review and behavioural analysis using the Theoretical Domains Framework.Health research policy and systems · 2024Pooled it
- Article
- Medico-legal patterns of cosmetic malpractice: a comparative analysis of complaints and judicial outcomes between licensed and unlicensed providers in Shiraz, Iran.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- A Cross-Sectional Study on Healthcare Providers' Perceived Compassion and Emotional Exhaustion Across Five Acute Geriatric Units: The Importance of Mutual Respect and Open Reflection.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Litigation in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (1982-2022): Verdicts and Indemnity Across Five Procedures.Aesthetic plastic surgery · 2026Article
- Less continuity with more complaints: a repeated cross-sectional study of the association between relational continuity of care and patient complaints in English general practice.BMJ quality & safety · 2026Article
- What do people do in the aftermath of healthcare-related harm? A qualitative study on experiences and factors influencing decision-making.BMJ quality & safety · 2026Article
- Reframing patient complaints as a quality and governance function in healthcare.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2026Article
- Beyond gratitude: a qualitative investigation of compliment letters received by a neonatology service.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Defining an integrative multidimensional framework for patient complaint management systems.Frontiers in health services · 2026Review
- Integrating equity into incident reporting and patient concerns systems: a critical interpretive synthesis.BMJ quality & safety · 2025Review
- Integrating equity into hospital incident reporting and patient concerns systems: study protocol for a mixed methods study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Stage-specific harm in early-stage hospitals in South Korea: a retrospective analysis using the healthcare complaints analysis tool.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Development and assessment of the AE-RADS standardized grid for specifically evaluating adverse events in diagnostic radiology and teleradiology.BMC medical imaging · 2025Article
- Review
- Factors influencing the nature of client complaint behaviour in the aftermath of adverse events.The Veterinary record · 2025Article
- Negative experiences with primary care services in Norway expressed in patient and next-of-kin complaints - a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Implementation of Patient Complaint Management Mechanisms for Quality Improvement in Maternal Health Services: Exploration of Provider Perspectives at Mkuranga District Hospital.International journal of women's health · 2025Article
- Assessment of the medical professionalism climate in the inpatient units of a teaching hospital affiliated with Iran University of Medical Sciences (2023-2024).Journal of medical ethics and history of medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionA global rise in patient complaints has been accompanied by growing research to effectively analyse complaints for safer, more patient-centric care. Most patients and families complain to improve the quality of healthcare, yet progress has been complicated by a system primarily designed for case-by-case complaint handling.
aimTo understand how to effectively integrate patient-centric complaint handling with quality monitoring and improvement.
methodLiterature screening and patient codesign shaped the review's aim in the first stage of this three-stage review. Ten sources were searched including academic databases and policy archives. In the second stage, 13 front-line experts were interviewed to develop initial practice-based programme theory. In the third stage, evidence identified in the first stage was appraised based on rigour and relevance, and selected to refine programme theory focusing on what works, why and under what circumstances.
resultsA total of 74 academic and 10 policy sources were included. The review identified 12 mechanisms to achieve: patient-centric complaint handling and system-wide quality improvement. The complaint handling pathway includes (1) access of information; (2) collaboration with support and advocacy services; (3) staff attitude and signposting; (4) bespoke responding; and (5) public accountability. The improvement pathway includes (6) a reliable coding taxonomy; (7) standardised training and guidelines; (8) a centralised informatics system; (9) appropriate data sampling; (10) mixed-methods spotlight analysis; (11) board priorities and leadership; and (12) just culture. DISCUSSION: If healthcare settings are better supported to report, analyse and use complaints data in a standardised manner, complaints could impact on care quality in important ways. This review has established a range of evidence-based, short-term recommendations to achieve this.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.