The Personal and Professional Impact of Patients’ Complaints on Doctors—A Qualitative Approach

Background: Complaints regarding medical practice represent a harsh reality of the current world. Patients have the right to receive explanations and compensation when they are injured during the medical act, but the increased potential for exposure to complaints determines personal and professional consequences for the doctors, with significant impact on their health and practice. Thus, the aim of our research was to analyze in depth the impact of complaints on the doctors involved. Materials and methods: The authors conducted a qualitative study, using a semi-structured interview, addressed to doctors who had complaints from patients. The participants in our research were identified using an adapted version of the snowball method. Results: After the analysis of the interviews using the inductive method, nine themes resulted, seven of which are addressed in this paper: injustice, personal impact, professional impact, difficulties, supportive factors, the attitude of the hospital management and the attitude of colleagues. At the personal level, the doctors were overwhelmed by insomnia, nightmares, stress and anxiety, and at the professional level by doubts about medical decisions, fear, anxiety and the tendency to avoid patients with severe diseases. Conclusions: The study revealed that physicians who had complaints from patients are deeply affected by the complaint itself and the associated investigation procedure, even if, to a lesser extent, some of the participants found motivation for a better management of the situation. The study also showed the need for changes in the legal and medical systems in order to create mechanisms to support the doctors during the investigation process.