Physician’s attitude towards unfounded patient complaints

Objective. To analyze the impact of unfounded complaints from patients on emotional state of doctors. Material and methods. Survey included 2.862 doctors from hospitals in the Moscow region. Results. The vast majority of doctors get satisfaction from work and mostly cope with emotional problems. When receiving complaints from patients about a hospital or a doctor personally, the majority of respondents (86.1% and 83.9%, respectively) feel resentment and indignation «if the complaint is unfair». Doctors receiving satisfaction from work are significantly more likely to react negatively to unfair complaints (83.1% of men versus 84.1% of women). About half of doctors (44.9%) noted that unfounded complaints negatively affect their mood and they «worry for several days or longer». Doctors not getting satisfaction from work worry longer, and those physicians who like it switch to work faster. Respondents rated their mood on a 10-point scale after receiving an unsubstantiated complaint. Mean score was 4.0 points. Conclusion. Unfounded complaints from patients negatively affect the mood and emotional state of doctors, cause resentment and indignation. This can reduce the quality of medical care and increase the number of unfounded complaints. Indeed, this category indicates problems in relationship between physicians and patients, and negative emotional attitude of medical workers worsens these relationships.