Health service improvement using positive patient feedback: Systematic scoping review (5 October 2023)

Summary

Healthcare services regularly receive patient feedback, most of which is positive. Empirical studies suggest that health services can use positive feedback to create patient benefit. This study in Plos One aimed to map all available empirical evidence for how positive patient feedback creates change in healthcare settings.

The researchers included 68 papers describing research conducted across six continents, with qualitative (n = 51), quantitative (n = 10), and mixed (n = 7) methods. Only two studies were interventional. Most outcomes described were desirable. These were categorised as:

• short-term emotional change for healthcare workers (including feeling motivated and improved psychological wellbeing)
• work-home interactional change for healthcare workers (such as improved home-life relationships)
• work-related change for healthcare workers (such as improved performance and staff retention).

Some undesirable outcomes were described, including envy when not receiving positive feedback. The impact of feedback may be moderated by characteristics of particular healthcare roles, such as night shift workers having less interaction time with patients.

The researchers called for further interventional research to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of receiving positive feedback in creating specific forms of change such as increases in staff retention. They also suggest that healthcare managers may wish to use positive feedback more regularly, and to address barriers to staff receiving feedback.