COMPLAINTS
Reducing the
risk of receiving
a complaint
A Vice Chair of the
ICRC provides advice
BY DR. AKBAR PANJU
A
s a physician, I know how upset-
ting it is to learn that a patient
has complained about you. I also
know that all of us strive to deliver
the best care possible to our patients and it can
be jarring to find out that a patient is unhappy.
While dealing with a complaint can be an
uncomfortable experience, it can also be a valu-
able one, because it offers an opportunity to
look at an aspect of your practice through the
perspective of a patient. After all, we all have
our blind spots, and we all have areas where we
can improve.
For the past five years, I have been a member
of the CPSO’s Inquiries, Complaints and Re-
ports Committee (ICRC), the committee that
oversees all investigations into physicians' care
and conduct. For the past two years, I have
been a Vice Chair of the Committee.
Recently, I was asked by my medical school
to give a presentation on best practices for
reducing the risk of a complaint. As I put
together the presentation, it struck me – and
not for the first time – that so many of the
complaints that we see around the ICRC table
have recurring themes, with a disproportionate
percentage of them rooted in communication
issues.
In the spirit of sharing some insights straight
from the ICRC table, here are a few tips on
how to minimize your chances of a formal
complaint:
Discuss the rationale for your clinical
decisions with patients and listen to their
concerns. Talk about why a treatment is
necessary – or not necessary. Such conversa-
tions don’t need to take a long time, and they
can often mean the difference between a
patient leaving their appointment with the
sense that their feelings have been validated
and respected or leaving the appointment with
feelings of discontent.
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ISSUE 2, 2019 DIALOGUE
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