Be a Leader, Be Accountable to patient Complaints.

Weiss, Yossi; Ash, Nachman

Introduction: Quality of healthcare can be measured by many ways; today it is a common knowledge that Patients' satisfaction is a critical variable in any calculation of quality. Patients' satisfaction is a goal for all physicians and other medical staff. Patients are now judging physicians not solely by cost, but also by the value of quality of care they deliver [1]. Usually medical organizations use satisfaction surveys in order to learn what does the health customer thinks about their health care delivery, products, attitude etc. The problem with this method is that most of the time, these surveys reflect topics that interest the organization, and this is not always equivalent to the patients' interests. Another way is to look at patients' dissatisfaction, and learn about the organization from patients' complaints. The way patient complaints are treated indicates the organization's accountability to them. This is especially true in a hierarchical organization such as a military unit where the mission is above all, before the soldier's welfare and health. In this paper we will describe patients' dissatisfaction; explain what complaints are; describe their contribution to the organization and their relationship with risk assessment and patient safety; review the issues that soldiers are complaining about; and finally discuss who should be accountable for dealing with health issues at the military.

MEDICAL quality control; PATIENT satisfaction; PHYSICIANS; MEDICAL personnel; SURVEYS; MEDICAL care of military personnel

GSTF Journal of BioSciences, 2012, Vol 2, Issue 1, p60

2251-3140

Academic Journal

10.5176/2251-3140_2.1.22