To improve any service, you need feedback from the people who use it.
Healthcare services are no different. Patients sit at the heart of today’s healthcare models, so to deliver the best healthcare possible, you need to understand what they think and how they feel at every point of their journey.
That’s why online patient satisfaction surveys have become a critical tool for hospitals and practices. They give you a unique perspective on the patient experience that allows you to make better-informed decisions around how you deliver your services.
The Importance of Patient Satisfaction Surveys
There’s an art to crafting effective patient satisfaction surveys. You need to ask carefully chosen questions in the right format at the right time to get valuable data. Your respondents must engage with every question.
But the investment is worth it. Here are three ways you can benefit from patient satisfaction surveys.
1. GET VALUABLE DATA ON WHERE YOU NEED TO IMPROVE
Patient satisfaction isn’t just about the quality of care a patient receives. It touches every aspect of the patient experience, from the greeting they get at the front desk to booking follow-up appointments online.
Surveys are the perfect way to quickly discover which areas your hospital or practice could improve on, such as:
- The speed and ease of your check-in process
- Waiting times
- The layout and cleanliness of your waiting rooms
- How well staff communicate with patients
- Awareness and accessibility of online channels
This survey data allows you to make informed decisions when implementing changes to your services. For instance, if the survey shows that patients feel delays aren’t clearly communicated in the waiting room, you can explore solutions like digital signage to improve the patient experience.
Another important benefit of online satisfaction surveys is that patients can complete them anonymously, which encourages honest answers. Not every patient will feel comfortable discussing issues such as unhelpful or unwelcoming staff – a survey gives them a channel to raise these concerns discreetly.
2. DISCOVER IF CHANGES ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Analysing the results of patient satisfaction surveys over time allows you to identify trends and see if changes to your services are having a positive or negative impact on patient experience.
For example, a survey might reveal that on a scale of 1 (very poor) to 5 (excellent), patients rate the check-in experience as 2 (poor). So, you implement self-check-in kiosks to simplify and speed up the process. By asking the question again in further surveys across the following months, you can see if the scores improve and discover if the kiosks have resolved the issue.
3. DRIVE PATIENT ENGAGEMENT
Every patient has a view on some aspect of your service, good or bad. But not all will be prepared to take proactive steps to voice them, and a silent patient isn’t always a happy one.
Regular patient satisfaction surveys show that you’re ready to listen to their concerns. They demonstrate your commitment to giving them the best healthcare possible. And if patients understand that their input can influence the quality of the services they receive, they’re much more likely to feel engaged with their healthcare.
A Window Into the Patient Experience
The importance of patient satisfaction surveys can’t be underestimated. After all, your patients need to be at the heart of every decision you make.
They reveal critical insights that let you identify issues and trends you might otherwise have missed. And you can use them to make smarter, data-driven decisions around how you improve the patient experience.
Online survey tools make it easier than ever to build custom surveys, manage them from anywhere, and analyse the results. So, if you’re not using patient satisfaction surveys, now is the time to get started.