Background   Reports show that the number of patient complaints in health care system increase in recent years. The clients of children's hospital services are the children, who are vulnerable population and easier to cause complaints.

  Objective   To analyze the cause of complaints from petition in a children’s hospital, and explore effective measures to reduce complaints.

  Methods  A retrospective analysis was performed in 827 cases of complaints from petition against a children′s hospital in 2018 and 2019. The causes for complaints were counted and the changes were analyzed. The correlation of the number of complaints and the patient volume was tested.

  Results  The number of complaints of outpatients and emergency patients increased from 328 in 2018 to 428 in 2019, and the complaint rate of outpatients and emergency patients increased from 1.35‱ in 2018 to 1.61‱ in 2019. The number of complaints of outpatients & emergency patients was correlated with the volume of outpatients & emergency patients (r=0.609, P=0.002). The proportion of complaints of outpatients and emergency patients caused by hospital management and medical resources increased from 22.87% and 11.59% in 2018 to 36.21% and 14.02% in 2019, respectively. The proportion of complaints of inpatient caused by quality of medical care increased from 15.79% in 2018 to 51.52% in 2019. Complaints of outpatients and emergency patients caused by poor communication between medical staff and patient decreased from 39.02% in 2018 to 27.57% in 2019, and that of inpatient decreased from 44.74% in 2018 to 12.12% in 2019.

  Conclusion   In order to reduce complaints from petition, it is suggested for the hospital to establish a closed-loop for complaints management, develop complaints information management system, enhance the communication between both hospital and medical staff and patients, and strengthen medical care quality management.