Gender and patient complaints: are they related?
BACKGROUND
Several studies suggest that the gender of patients and their healthcare providers affects overall patient satisfaction.


OBJECTIVE
We sought to determine whether the gender of patients or providers was associated with the number of complaints filed by patients against providers.


METHODS
In this case-controlled study, complaints from a health maintenance organisation were analysed for gender disparity during a 12-month period.


RESULTS
The odds ratio for patients' female gender to be associated with complaints was 3.10 (95% confidence interval 1.73-5.55, P<0.001). Women were also more likely than men to cite providers' behaviour as the cause of complaints. No significant associations were noted between the number of complaints and a complainant's age, diagnosis of chronic pain or psychiatric illness, or with the provider's gender, age or length of employment in the organisation. The heterogeneity of gender effect demonstrated in the literature suggests that this effect is likely to be unique to the different practice settings.


CONCLUSIONS
Evaluating the presence of this phenomenon in the different practice settings is recommended, to improve patient satisfaction and subsequently the quality of care.
Murad
Mohammad Hassan
MH
Division of Preventive and Occupational Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA. Murad.Mohammad@mayo.edu
Gjerde
Craig L
CL
Bobula
James
J
Ostrov
Michael
M
Murad
Mohammad Safwan
MS
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000592:standards; D006304:Health Status; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011287:Prejudice; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States