Analysis of complaint characteristics of the government hotline during the COVID-19 pandemic / 中华医院管理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the number of appeals volume and causes for complaints received by the government hotline against a hospital in Yangzhou during the pandemic of novel coronavirus pneumonia(hereinafter referred to as COVID-19), so as to provide reference for handling such hotline complaints during pandemics.Methods:Retrospective comparative analysis was made on the " 12345" government hotline work orders received from July 28, 2020 to August 28, 2020(routine prevention and control period) and July 28, 2021 to August 28, 2021(pandemic closure and control period). A descriptive analysis was made on the cause types of complaints and the distribution of departments in question, along with an analysis of the correlation between the cumulative number of cases of pandemic development and the number of complaints using Spearman rank correlation method.Results:The number of work orders for a hospital in Yangzhou during the pandemic control period(659 cases) was 7.7 times higher than that in the routine control period(76 cases). Management problems accounted for 96.7%(637 cases) in the level-1 type of the causes of complaints during the closure and control period of the pandemic, and workflow problems accounted for 90.9%(599 cases) in the level-2 type, which increased by 28.3 and 27.7 percentage points respectively compared with the routine prevention and control period; The highest proportion in the level-3 type of causes for complaints during the closure and control period of the pandemic was administrative management, accounting for 87.9%(579 cases). The departments being complained the most during the pandemic incubation period, outbreak period and recovery period of the pandemic were the fever clinic, oncology department and discharge center respectively. The cumulative number of cases of pandemic development was positively correlated with the number of complaints.Conclusions:During the COVID-19, the handling of the government hotline should be analyzed along with the causes of complaints, focusing on patients′ demands, providing timely feedback, developing collaborative management measures, and achieving accurate policy implementation.