From complaint to change: analysing patient complaints against residents to enhance postgraduate medical education

Patient complaints can give important insight into ways to improve the quality of health care. Even though patients’ complaints against residents are growing, research specifically focused on patient complaints against residents is lacking. Understanding the complaints against residents can help with addressing these issues in PGME programs. Good PGME programs can result in fewer complaints. To analyse patient complaints specifically against residents in order to get more detail on where PGME programs could be improved. This descriptive qualitative study involved a retrospective analysis of patient complaints against residents registered at a large teaching hospital in the Netherlands from 2017 until 2021. The CanMEDS criteria were used as a framework to categorise the complaints. A total of 602 complaints associated with residents were retrieved. The Communicator role accounted for 35% of the complaints, closely followed by Medical Expert (34%) and Professional (21%). Competencies related to the roles were assigned based on the CanMEDS criteria. This study gives important insight into areas that may benefit from further development within PGME programs, including a focus on correct and complete information. Attention to patients’ expectations and professional issues should also be incorporated.