Positive reinforcement: Balancing negative and positive feedback for comprehensive improvement

Abstract

Patient feedback plays a vital role in healthcare, offering insights into the quality of care and promoting professional development. Despite the emphasis on feedback collection from regulatory bodies, institutional policies appear to focus on processing complaints and negative feedback over positive feedback.

The aim of this study is to investigate the processes relevant to the systematic logging of patient feedback in the dental hospitals across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

A cross-sectional survey study was conducted with a prior local survey serving as a pilot. Of the 22 hospitals of the ADH, 13 responded to the questionnaire (59 %). Descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentages were produced to summarise the sample and data. Qualitative data were analysed using Braun and Clark's thematic analysis [1] following an inductive approach.

We found that the institutions of the ADH perceive that most negative feedback is logged, whereas most positive feedback is missed. It is evident that positive patient feedback is collected and logged less systematically than negative feedback, and most institutions acknowledge the need for improvement in this area. This discrepancy likely stems from a lack of structured procedures for encouraging and recording positive feedback.

Promoting positive feedback is crucial, as both positive and negative feedback offer valuable insights. To enhance feedback collection and utilisation, research should expand to include the perspectives of patients and individual clinicians. Furthermore, exploring the development of a universal feedback system could simplify and improve the collection and use of patient feedback across institutions.

Clinical significance

A discrepancy is apparent in the perceived effectiveness of feedback collected for staff and students, with students receiving more comprehensive feedback. An online platform for capturing patient expressions of gratitude can be beneficial, facilitating the recording of feedback as it is received and encouraging more patients to provide their input.