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Table 4 Patient expectations of the conduct of the medical professional subject to the complaint and of the outcome, expressed in percentage of patients (N = 424).

From: Patient expectations of fair complaint handling in hospitals: empirical data

Importance

not important

important

very and most important

The professional subject to the complaint should:

%

%

%

- admit a mistake when it has occurred

2

7

84

- explain how the incident could have happened

9

14

65

- offer an apology

24

22

41

- show sympathy for what I went through

29

21

38

- make an effort to recover our relationship

53

17

15

  1. *) missing values vary from 8% to 15% per item