title: Patient complaints about health care in a Swedish County: characteristics and satisfaction after handling.
abstract: To describe patient complaints and to examine possible associations between healthcare providers' statements and reports of satisfaction/dissatisfaction.
  
  
  
  A retrospective and descriptive design was used to examine filed complaints.
  
  
  
  Complaints from one Patient Advisory Committee in Sweden in 2011 was examined using three different protocols/reading guides (n =618). Associations between contents in responses from healthcare providers and reports of satisfaction/dissatisfaction from the complainants were analysed.
  
  
  
  Less than one-third of the complainants were satisfied after handling and with healthcare providers' statements about the complaint. The most frequent causes for dissatisfaction were that the healthcare provider 'did not tell the truth' or 'gave insufficient information'. There was a statistically significant association with dissatisfaction if the statement from the healthcare provider included the category 'disagree/defend themselves'. Four categories were associated with being satisfied and the associations were statistically significant when two or more of these were combined.
authors.affiliation: Patient Advisory Committee Sörmland County Council Nyköping Sweden.
authors.forename: Charlotta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Skålén
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Research Sörmland Uppsala University Eskilstuna Sweden; Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences Uppsala University Uppsala Sweden.
authors.forename: Lena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nordgren
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Research Sörmland Uppsala University Eskilstuna Sweden; Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences Uppsala University Uppsala Sweden.
authors.forename: Eva-Maria
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Annerbäck
keywords: Patient advisory committee; Sweden; patient complaints; patient safety; patient satisfaction; quality of health care