The Personal and Professional Impact of Patients’ Complaints on Doctors—A Qualitative Approach

Background: Complaints regarding medical practice represent a harsh reality of the current world. Patients have the right to receive explanations and compensation when they are injured during the medical act, but the increased potential for exposure to complaints determines personal and professional consequences for the doctors, with significant impact on their health and practice. Thus, the aim of our research was to analyze in depth the impact of complaints on the doctors involved. Materials and methods: The authors conducted a qualitative study, using a semi-structured interview, addressed to doctors who had complaints from patients. The participants in our research were identified using an adapted version of the snowball method. Results: After the analysis of the interviews using the inductive method, nine themes resulted, seven of which are addressed in this paper: injustice, personal impact, professional impact, difficulties, supportive factors, the attitude of the hospital management and the attitude of colleagues. At the personal level, the doctors were overwhelmed by insomnia, nightmares, stress and anxiety, and at the professional level by doubts about medical decisions, fear, anxiety and the tendency to avoid patients with severe diseases. Conclusions: The study revealed that physicians who had complaints from patients are deeply affected by the complaint itself and the associated investigation procedure, even if, to a lesser extent, some of the participants found motivation for a better management of the situation. The study also showed the need for changes in the legal and medical systems in order to create mechanisms to support the doctors during the investigation process.

Integrated care is needed, now more than ever: a professional's perspective

Sara-Marie Black offers a personal account of the last 18 months and its emotional, personal and professional impact. While presenting an unprecedented challenge, COVID-19 has also provided an opportunity to learn and reflect, and has emphasised the need, now more than ever, to work collaboratively across health, social and voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors.

Enhancing intergroup communication in healthcare: The role of the receiver

This paper explores how the communication behaviour of another can have significant personal and professional impact and, in turn, put others in harm’s way. In healthcare, in a continual attempt to address known barriers to communication, such as fear, hierarchy and power differentials, significant human and financial resources are deployed to develop and teach new and existing methods of how to speak up. Despite the effort, speaking up remains difficult, and as a result, patients are still being harmed. The author’s personal story highlights the fact that maybe, until now, we have not been addressing the whole issue.

The impact of crowdsourcing and online collaboration in professional translation

The emergence of crowdsourcing has opened up novel ways to initiate, produce and deliver translations in our digitally connected world. New practices and processes brought up by these phenomena have undeniably impacted different collectives with an interest in translation, such as language service providers (LSPs), professionals, and Translation Studies (TS). It has also been argued that crowdsourcing can impact public perceptions of translation, rising ethical concerns, issues related to the visibility of translation, or whether everyone can potentially translate (McDonough-Dolmaya 2012). This paper analyzes its potential impact on the realm of professional translation, an issue raised several years ago by a European Union Commission publication (2012, 37–38). It critically analyzes whether the much-feared socioeconomic and socio-professional impact on working conditions of professionals is underway or not. It represents an attempt at charting the potential influence of crowdsourcing on the profession through a critical review of existing literature and industry publications.

P231 Work productivity loss in perianal crohn’s disease

Background Few data exist on the socio-professional impact in patients with perianal Crohn’s disease, probably because the patient-doctor relationship is mainly focused on obtaining clinical, biological and endoscopic remission of the Crohn’s disease (CD). Our study aimed to evaluate the impacts of perianal Crohn’s disease on work productivity. Methods A prospective cross-sectional study including patients with CD followed in the Gastroenterology department between July and August 2020 was performed. Professional impact was assessed using Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire (WPAI) which is composed of 6 questions evaluating during the last seven days preceding the interview with the patient, the absenteeism, the presenteeism, the total decrease in productivity and the decrease in daily activities for health reasons. The results are multiplied by 100, expressed as a percentage of time lost. A higher percentage indicates greater depreciation and less productivity. Professional impact was compared in patients with perianal Crohn’s disease and controls without perianal symptoms. Results Thirty two patients were included. The mean age was 38.28 years [18–60] and the sex ratio was 1. Perianal manifestations were observed in 15 patients (44% of cases). Thirteen patients (41%) were in paid employment at the time of inclusion. CD was responsible for an average absenteeism of 30% ± 10.4% [0–80%] of the working time during the last seven days. An average percentage of work impairment defining the presenteeism was noted to be 52% ± 28% [0–80%] of working time. The overall average decline in productivity was estimated at 56% ± 22% [0–97%]. CD was responsible for an average restriction of 45% ± 33% [0–100%] of usual daily activities. By comparing the professional impact according to the presence or not of anoperineal lesions (APL), an association between the mean rate of activity restriction and the presence of APL (p = 0.04) was objectified. However, no significant association was noted in the other dimensions of the WPAI questionnaire. Conclusion According to our study, it appears that Crohn’s disease is a source of reduced work productivity especially in case of perianal manifestation. These results should be confirmed by larger studies.

Law of the Strongest? A Global Approach of Access to Law Studies and Its Social and Professional Impact in British India (1850s–1940s)

This paper examines how access to law studies in British India challenged social stratifications within the colony, from the 1850s up to the 1940s. It highlights the impact of educational trajectories—colonial, imperial and global—on social positions and professional careers. Universities in British India have included faculties of law since the foundation of the first three universities in 1857. Although numerous native students enrolled at these Indian institutions, some of them chose to pursue their legal training in the imperial metropole. Being admitted into an Inn of Court, they could consequently become barristers, a title that was not available for holders of an Indian degree. This dual system differentiated degree-holders, complexifying the colonial hierarchy in a way that was sometimes denounced by both the colonized and the imperial authorities. Last but not least, access to higher education also impacted gendered identities: academic migration at times allowed some Indian women to graduate in Law but these experiences remained quite exceptional until the end of the Second Word War.