Abstract
BackgroundComplaints made online by patients about their health care experiences are becoming prevalent because of widespread worldwide internet connectivity. An a priori framework, based on patient centeredness, may be useful in identifying the types of issues patients complain about online across multiple settings. It may also assist in examining whether the determinants of patient-centered care (PCC) mirror the determinants of patient experiences.ObjectiveThe objective of our study was to develop a taxonomy framework for patient complaints online based on patient centeredness and to examine whether the determinants of PCC mirror the determinants of patient experiences.MethodsFirst, the best fit framework synthesis technique was applied to develop the proposed a priori framework. Second, electronic databases, including Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed, were searched for articles published between 2000 and June 2018. Studies were only included if they collected primary quantitative data on patients’ online complaints. Third, a deductive and inductive thematic analysis approach was adopted to code the themes of recognized complaints into the framework.ResultsIn total, 17 studies from 5 countries were included in this study. Patient complaint online taxonomies and theme terms varied. According to our framework, patients expressed most dissatisfaction with patient-centered processes (101,586/204,363, 49.71%), followed by prerequisites (appropriate skills and knowledge of physicians; 50,563, 24.74%) and the care environment (48,563/204,363, 23.76%). The least dissatisfied theme was expected outcomes (3651/204,363, 1.79%). People expressed little dissatisfaction with expanded PCC dimensions, such as involvement of family and friends (591/204,363, 0.29%). Variation in the concerns across different countries’ patients were also observed.ConclusionsOnline complaints made by patients are of major value to health care providers, regulatory bodies, and patients themselves. Our PCC framework can be applied to analyze them under a wide range of conditions, treatments, and countries. This review has shown significant heterogeneity of patients’ online complaints across different countries.
Highlights
As internet availability and usage grows worldwide, patients are spontaneously rating their experiences with physicians and hospitals by sharing their opinions about health encounters on the World Wide Web via mediums such as social media websites, Web-based consumer opinion platforms, and physician rating websites (PRWs) [1,2,3,4,5]
Despite the large volume of work published in this domain, currently available taxonomies for analyzing online complaints made by patients often lack standardized themes, terminology, and underlying unifying theory, creating difficulties in making sense of data that cannot be used to compare against other services, organizations, or countries
Most of the research reported in the analyzed studies focused on PRWs or tweets examining country contexts, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, and Canada
Summary
As internet availability and usage grows worldwide, patients are spontaneously rating their experiences with physicians and hospitals by sharing their opinions about health encounters on the World Wide Web via mediums such as social media websites, Web-based consumer opinion platforms, and physician rating websites (PRWs) [1,2,3,4,5]. On the basis of extensive circumstantial evidence [18,19,20], countries such as the United Kingdom systematically collect data relating to patient experiences from their quality-reporting website (National Health Service, NHS choices) to support the further development of patient-centered care (PCC) [8,21,22,23]. An a priori framework, based on patient centeredness, may be useful in identifying the types of issues patients complain about online across multiple settings It may assist in examining whether the determinants of patient-centered care (PCC) mirror the determinants of patient experiences. Objective: The objective of our study was to develop a taxonomy framework for patient complaints online based on patient centeredness and to examine whether the determinants of PCC mirror the determinants of patient experiences. This review has shown significant heterogeneity of patients’ online complaints across different countries
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