Abstract
BackgroundWith the rise in popularity of Web 2.0 technologies, the sharing of patient experiences about physicians on online forums and medical websites has become a common practice. However, negative comments posted by patients are considered to be more influential by other patients and physicians than those that are satisfactory.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to analyze negative comments posted online about physicians and to identify possible solutions to improve patient satisfaction, as well as their relationship with physicians.MethodsA Java-based program was developed to collect patient comments on the Good Doctor website, one of the most popular online health communities in China. A total of 3012 negative comments concerning 1029 physicians (mean 2.93 [SD 4.14]) from 5 highly ranked hospitals in Beijing were extracted for content analysis. An initial coding framework was constructed with 2 research assistants involved in the codification.ResultsAnalysis, based on the collected 3012 negative comments, revealed that unhappy patients are not alike and that their complaints cover a wide range of issues experienced throughout the whole process of medical consultation. Among them, physicians in Obstetrics and Gynecology (606/3012, 20.12%; P=.001) and Internal Medicine (487/3012, 16.17%; P=.80) received the most negative comments. For negative comments per physician, Dermatology and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (mean 5.72, P<.001) and Andrology (mean 5, P=.02) ranked the highest. Complaints relating to insufficient medical consultation duration (577/3012, 19.16%), physician impatience (527/3012, 17.50%), and perceived poor therapeutic effect (370/3012, 12.28%) received the highest number of negative comments. Specific groups of people, such as those accompanying older patients or children, traveling patients, or very important person registrants, were shown to demonstrate little tolerance for poor medical service.ConclusionsAnalysis of online patient complaints provides an innovative approach to understand factors associated with patient dissatisfaction. The outcomes of this study could be of benefit to hospitals or physicians seeking to improve their delivery of patient-centered services. Patients are expected to be more understanding of overloaded physicians’ workloads, which are impacted by China’s stretched medical resources, as efforts are made to build more harmonious physician-patient relationships.
Highlights
Benefit of Web-Based Patient ComplaintsThe identification and recording of patient complaints is vital for improving the quality of health care services and maintaining good physician-patient relationships [1]
Salma et al [8] conducted a qualitative study into patients’ attitudes toward submitting Web-based feedback and ratings to general practitioners (GPs) in England; they suggested that patients leave comments online mainly for one of the following three reasons: (1) the ability and ease of giving it remotely, (2) availability to the public, and (3) the perceived serious attitude of the general practitioner physician rating websites (PRWs) (GP) toward the Web-based comments
After grouping patients using the classification of the Good Doctor website, we found that the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology received the most negative comments with 606 (P=.001), followed by the Department of Internal Medicine with 487 (P=.08)
Summary
Benefit of Web-Based Patient ComplaintsThe identification and recording of patient complaints is vital for improving the quality of health care services and maintaining good physician-patient relationships [1]. With the growth in worldwide Internet availability and usage, a behavioral shift is identified where people are moving from traditional offline complaint channels to expressing their views in relation to unsatisfactory health care experiences via the Internet. Such channels provide an alternative approach for patients to discuss their substandard medical experiences and share them with others, especially when they feel the service provider failed to take effective action [7]. Complaints relating to insufficient medical consultation duration (577/3012, 19.16%), physician impatience (527/3012, 17.50%), and perceived poor therapeutic effect (370/3012, 12.28%) received the highest number of negative comments. Patients are expected to be more understanding of overloaded physicians’ workloads, which are impacted by China’s stretched medical resources, as efforts are made to build more harmonious physician-patient relationships
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