Table 1

Descriptive and methodological characteristics of identified article

Authors	Year	Country	Healthcare environment	No. of complaints reported	System-level intervention	Single or multiple coding	No. of codes used	Source of coding frame	Complaint coded by
Schwartz and Overton23	1987	USA	Emergency	244	Suggested	Single	12	NR	Secretarial staff
Chande et al24	1991	USA	Hospital	176	Suggested	Single	11	NR	Healthcare staff
Owen25	1991	UK	Primary care	1000	NR*	Single	13	NR	Author(s)
Burstein and Fleisher26	1991	USA	Hospital	67	Suggested	Multiple	4	NR	Unit manager
Hunt and Glucksman27	1991	UK	Emergency	122	Suggested	Multiple	11	NR	Author(s)
Donaldson and Cavanagh28	1992	UK	Hospital	71	Suggested	Multiple	6	NR	Healthcare staff
Kadzombe and Coals29	1992	UK	Emergency	66	NR	Multiple	8	NR	Unit manager
Hanson et al30	1994	Australia	Child A&E	71	Suggested	Single	5	NR	Parents
Allsop31	1994	UK	Surgery	110	NR	Multiple	6	Literature	Author(s)
Bark et al7	1994	UK	Hospital	491	Suggested	Multiple	9	Literature	Author(s)
Lloyd-Bostock and Mulcahy10†	1994	UK	Hospital	399	Implemented	Multiple	36	Developed	Author(s)
Nettleton and Harding32	1994	UK	Multiple	107	NR	Multiple	43	NR	Author(s)
Curka et al33	1995	USA	Emergency	371	Suggested	Single	8	NR	Unit manager
Webb34	1995	UK	Hospital	188	Suggested	Single	18	NR	Healthcare staff
Ingram and Roy35	1995	UK	Psychiatric	47	NR	Multiple	10	NR	Author(s)
Mulholland and Dawson36	1998	NZ	Multiple	146	Suggested	Single	5	NR	Author(s)
Mace37	1998	USA	Hospital	28	Implemented	Single	5	NR	Healthcare staff
Lim et al38	1998	Singapore	Clinics	226	NR	Multiple	38	NR	Complaint staff
Daniel et al39	1999	Australia	Multiple	290	NR	Single	12	NR	Complaint staff
Pichert et al40†	1999	USA	Hospital	6419	Implemented	Multiple	15	Developed	Complaint staff
Allen et al41‡	2000	USA	Hospital	3984	Implemented	Single	5	Developed	Patients
Halperin42	2000	USA	Multiple	29	NR	Single	5	NR	Complaint staff
Anderson et al43	2000	Australia	Hospital	127	NR	Multiple	17	NR	Patient advisor
Pitarka-Carcani et al44	2000	UK	Psychiatric	100	Implemented	Multiple	23	NR	NR
Anderson et al45	2001	Australia	Hospital	1308	NR	Multiple	8	NR	Patient advisor
Powers and Bendall-Lyon46	2002	USA	Hospital	211	NR	Single	5	Literature	Complaint staff
Taylor et al47	2002	Australia	Emergency	2419	Suggested	Multiple	43	NR	Complaint staff
Colwell et al48	2003	USA	Emergency	286	Suggested	Single	10	NR	Unit manager
Choy et al49	2004	Hong Kong	Hospital	241	Suggested	Multiple	4	NR	NR
Taylor et al50	2004	Australia	Hospital	19 156	Suggested	Multiple	7	NR	Complaint staff
Wofford et al51	2004	USA	Hospital	222	Suggested	Multiple	7	Developed	Author(s)
Stelfox et al52	2005	USA	Hospital	483	NR	Single	2	NR	NR
Friele and Sluijs53	2006	Netherlands	Hospital	424	NR	Multiple	4	Literature	Patients
Chavan et al54	2007	UK	Eye infirmary	94	Implemented	Single	6	NR	Complaint staff
Cowan and Wilson55†	2007	UK	Surgery	526	Suggested	Single	6	NR	Healthcare staff
Kline et al56	2007	Canada	Hospital	586	Suggested	Single	11	NR	Complaint staff
Saravanan et al57	2007	UK	Hospital	100	Suggested	Single	6	NR	NR
Siyambalapitiya et al58†	2007	UK	Hospital	183	Suggested	Single	6	NR	Complaint staff
Natangelo59	2007	Italy	Hospital	151	Suggested	Multiple	6	Literature	Healthcare staff
Wong et al60	2007	Singapore	Emergency	175	Suggested	Multiple	16	NR	Author(s)
Haw et al61	2008	UK	Psychiatric	392	Implemented	Single	15	NR	Complaint staff
Friele et al62	2008	Netherlands	Hospital	279	Suggested	Multiple	5	Literature	Patients
Montini et al63	2008	USA	Hospital	1216	Implemented	Multiple	22	Developed	Author(s)
Giugliani et al64	2009	France	Hospital	164	NR	Single	6	NR	Healthcare staff
Parry and Hewage65	2009	Australia	Hospital	101	Suggested	Single	4	NR	Complaint staff
Jangland et al13	2009	Sweden	Hospital	105	Implemented	Multiple	14	Literature	Author(s)
Levtzion-Korach et al3	2010	USA	Hospital	4722	Suggested	Multiple	8	Literature	Author(s)
Moghadam et al66	2010	Iran	Cardiac	1642	Implemented	Single	10	Developed	Complaint staff
Stimson et al67	2010	USA	Hospital	1516	Suggested	Single	5	Literature	Complaint staff
Hsieh68	2010	Taiwan	Hospital	59	Suggested	Multiple	8	Literature	Social worker
McGregor et al69§	2011	Canada	Nursing home	629	NR	Single	28	NR	Complaint staff
Gogos et al70§	2011	Australia	Multiple	481	NR	Multiple	5	Literature	Healthcare staff
Hsieh8	2012	Taiwan	Hospital	665	Suggested	Single	38	NR	Social worker
Källberg et al71	2012	Sweden	Emergency	1778	Suggested	Single	10	Developed	Author(s)
Sachdeo et al72	2012	USA	Dental clinic	214	Suggested	Single	5	NR	Author(s)
Schnitzer et al73†	2012	Germany	Multiple	13 505	NR	Single	4	NR	Author(s)
Mann et al74	2012	UK	Surgery	113	Suggested	Multiple	15	Literature	Healthcare staff
van Mook et al75	2012	Netherlands	Multiple	137	Suggested	Multiple	29	Literature	Author(s)
Bismark et al76	2013	Australia	Multiple	18 907	Suggested	Multiple	20	Literature	Author(s)

*NR, not retrievable.
†Discrepancy between the total number of complaints reported and the tally of the individual complaints we managed to extract.
‡Imperfect data extraction due to the study reporting rounded percentages.
§Study analyses a subset of ‘substantiated’ complaints.
A&E, Accident and Emergency.