Seven Years of Complaints from Patients in Plastic Surgery Hospitals About Autologous Fat Transfer Procedures

Patient complaints can provide valuable feedback on objective deficiencies in medical services. At present, there are few studies on patient complaints regarding autologous fat transfer procedures. Our findings suggest that, in real-world clinical practice, the complaint rate may exceed 5% (7.18% in the present study), underscoring the importance of further research in this area. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the complaints of patients who have undergone autologous fat transfer procedures to understand their expectations and requirements.

Our study conducted a statistical analysis of the chief complaints of patients who have undergone autologous fat transfer procedures. The research focused on various aspects, including the treatment items, content of complaints, types of complaints, economic compensation, and the temporal trends in the number of complaints.

Between 2016 and 2022, a total of 571 autologous fat transfer procedures were performed, among which 41 cases involved complaints, resulting in a complaint rate of 7.18%. According to the standardized coding classification of complaints by Reader et al., the numbers of complaints in the Clinical, Management, and Relationships categories were 33 (80.49%), 6 (14.63%), and 2 (4.88%), respectively. Specifically, the subcategories included Treatment (48.78%), Safety incidents (31.71%), Bureaucracy (9.76%), Finance and billing (2.44%), Referrals (2.44%), Patient-staff dialogue (2.44%), and Staff attitudes (2.44%). The most common subcategories were Treatment (48.78%) and Safety incidents (31.71%). There were 15 cases (36.59%) where patients demanded compensation for losses and 1 case (2.44%) where patients requested free repairs or consultations. Ultimately, three patients received financial compensation. At the significance level of P = 0.05, although the number of annual complaints increased over time, the growth trend was not significant.

The complaints from patients regarding autologous fat transfer procedures are primarily of a clinical nature. Combined with the survey findings, it can be seen that quality and safety issues are the main content of complaints.

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