Use of patient complaints to identify diagnosis-related safety concerns: a mixed-method evaluation.

Patient complaints are increasingly used to identify opportunities for patient safety improvement and to predict avoidable patient harm. In this retrospective study, researchers analyzed patient complaint and medical record data and found that manual reviews by clinicians can identify patterns of failures in the diagnostic process. Qualitative analysis of complaints revealed three themes associated with diagnostic error – reports of return visits for the same or worsening symptoms, interpersonal issues, and diagnostic testing issues.