Importance Of Conducting Patient Satisfaction Surveys

Today, more and more healthcare organisations, clinics, and GPs are conducting patient satisfaction surveys. User-friendly online surveys offer a simple way to collect information for finding gaps in customer care and to understand how to improve services.

Monitoring and improving customer satisfaction has always been a very important factor for driving business forward and it’s become an important issue in the medical world as well. The main reason for this is that providing patients with the best possible care is very important in the modern healthcare industry.

Conducting patient satisfaction surveys will allow healthcare providers to learn if they are meeting the expectations of their patients or if they are lacking in any area. To compete with other medical services, it is essential that healthcare providers seek the views of their patients so that they can set standards and take action when those standards are not met.

Reasons for conducting patient satisfaction surveys

The first reason as to why you should be conducting patient satisfaction surveys is to learn what is important to your patients. You may not believe this, but the way your patient is treated from the moment they enter your facility is very important:

• Are your front desk personnel friendly and helpful?
• Do your patients have to wait for long periods of time without any explanation?
• Is there a play area for children and toys to play with whilst they are waiting?

All of these can be factors that may have your patients looking elsewhere, even if you provide excellent care.

How online surveys can help improve services

By conducting patient satisfaction surveys, you will be letting your patients know that their opinion is very important and that their feedback will help you to provide quality services. By sending an online patient satisfaction survey immediately following a visit, your patients can provide you with valuable feedback whilst it is fresh in their minds.

By building up a picture of patient experiences, you will be able to improve the level of healthcare you can offer, and adopt a patient-centric approach to achieve improved satisfaction.

Another benefit of sending an online survey is that patients can answer your questions anonymously, which usually means they are more likely to provide honest answers. In most cases, your patients will not want to tell you to your face that you have a receptionist that doesn’t provide you with the information you need and makes you feel unwelcome, instead they will simply just find another medical practice to go to.

Following their visit, your patients will start talking to their family and friends about how they feel about your services. Showing that you care about their opinion will give them better reasons to keep you as their medical care professional and will most likely lead to word of mouth recommendations.

The information you receive from conducting patient satisfaction surveys will not only help you provide better care but also ensure that the time your patients spend with you is as pleasant as possible.

How conducting patient satisfaction surveys can help

Derbyshire NHS Foundation Trust embarked on a long-term programme to collect regular patient feedback. This case study illustrates how utilising a secure, easy to use survey system has provided a high return on investment.

If you know what factors can turn a stressful visit to your practice into an enjoyable one, you can work towards making the patient journey as frictionless as possible. Investigate every process they go through, such as:

• Awareness of opening times
• The process of making an appointment
• Checking in for an appointment
• Waiting time
• Comfort of the waiting room
• Paying the bill
• Support and information
• Follow-up reminders

Online surveys can help you meet patients’ needs, from the moment they recognise the need for your services until their visit is completed.