Healthcare surveys: What they are, types, and best practices

Quality care is the cornerstone of the patient experience, laying the foundation for trust, satisfaction, and positive health outcomes.

Quality of care is the extent to which health services for individuals and populations enhance the likelihood of achieving desired health outcomes, according to The World Health Organization (WHO).

When patients receive attentive, effective, and compassionate care, they’re more likely to feel supported and engaged throughout their healthcare journey.

Healthcare surveys are a valuable tool used by healthcare providers, clinics, and hospitals to measure and improve patient care. This article explains what healthcare surveys are, their different types, how to use them, and more.

Healthcare surveys are tools used to collect feedback from patients, caregivers, or staff regarding their experiences, satisfaction, and the quality of care provided. Healthcare professionals use these surveys to continuously enhance patient satisfaction and care quality.

Related reading: How to conduct healthcare surveys

Healthcare surveys offer clinicians and staff important insights into patient perspectives on the care they receive. Using surveys in healthcare settings offers several benefits, including: 

Related reading: How to improve your patient registration process

Healthcare organizations can use different types of surveys to improve their services and quality of care. We'll show you when and how to use each type of survey.  

Related reading: What healthcare organizations need to know about measuring training and development programs

Patient satisfaction surveys help highlight what’s working well and uncover opportunities for improvement. Ask patients to share their impressions of the quality of care, support staff, and facilities to gain valuable insights and guide meaningful enhancements.

Explore these patient satisfaction survey templates to get started:

Related reading: Track and monitor patient health with surveys 

Physicians prioritize patient safety as a fundamental part of delivering quality care. In support of this goal, 40% of SurveyMonkey healthcare customers use surveys to strengthen their patient safety culture and drive continuous improvement.

These patient safety and accreditation survey templates can help you promote and support a stronger culture of patient safety.

Monitoring engagement rates with employee surveys helps identify opportunities to enhance the employee experience. Below are healthcare-specific employee engagement survey templates to support your efforts.

Related reading: How to measure patient telehealth experience

Evaluation surveys give patients a way to share feedback, providing insights that help your organization identify areas for improvement and enhance the overall patient experience.

Different healthcare providers use surveys in distinct ways, typically leveraging them to improve their business.

For example, some healthcare workers use surveys to boost their bottom line and navigate unexpected circumstances. On the other hand, some healthcare organizations, such as Community Intervention Services Inc., use surveys to gather critical insights related to Net Promoter Score and other customer experience metrics. 

However, healthcare surveys aren’t only for patients. Businesses can also leverage healthcare surveys to request feedback from people across their organization, including administrators, medical practitioners, and other providers. Understanding your employee experience helps you identify ways to improve it, leading to your employees giving better customer service.

Here are some of the ways you can transform your healthcare organization with surveys:

Related reading: NPS benchmarks & best practices in healthcare

A great healthcare survey goes beyond just sending out a request for information from your patients. A great survey will include the right questions and come at the right time, maximizing the quality of the information you receive from each patient.

Here are some of our top tips for conducting effective healthcare surveys.

The longer the survey, the higher the exit rate. If a patient feels overwhelmed by the number of questions or the time required to complete a survey, they may simply leave without finishing.

Of the many things you should consider in your survey design, consider the minimum number of questions needed to achieve your goal. How can you get from A to B in as few questions as possible?

Healthcare surveys gather information that some patients may feel is sensitive or, in some cases, embarrassing. You must balance empathy and professionalism to increase survey response rates and data accuracy.

Use neutral language where appropriate. For example, a leading question like, “Tell us how well the staff members treated you with respect and courtesy,” may make patients feel pressured to respond positively. Additionally, use inclusive language and consider giving respondents the option not to disclose information.

You’ll want to balance closed and open-ended questions to give your patients the flexibility to answer how they’d like. You’ll also gather rich quantitative and qualitative data.

More dedicated responders may fill out your open-ended questions to give as much detail as possible. Speed finishers will whiz through and give you the minimum level of detail you’re looking for.

Quantitative data can be used to track changes over time, while qualitative data is particularly well-suited for making targeted improvements.

Another good rule-of-thumb is ensuring your patients know their responses are anonymous. Doctors and nurses hold a position of authority over patients’ healthcare, and healthcare settings can make some feel uneasy, making patients feel hesitant to share candid feedback.

People will feel more comfortable giving honest, candid feedback when anonymous, helping you to make real improvements in your organization. 

Surveys can be sent at different times. Ensure the timing of your survey aligns with its goals. 

You can use surveys to gather information throughout the service timeline—pre-visit to measure scheduling efficiency, post-discharge to measure visit satisfaction with hospital care, and more.

Distributing your survey effectively is almost as important as the survey questions. For example, if your audience hardly ever uses social media, distributing a link via Facebook would be ineffective. Understanding the channels that your patients use will help you increase response rates.

Many healthcare organizations already communicate with their patients via email. If you’re unsure how to distribute your survey, we suggest you send it to the email address that a patient currently receives communications from your business.

After you've taken painstaking measures to perfect your survey design and ensure compliance with regulatory boards, act on your survey results.

First, conduct statistical analyses to find significant data points. Then, share the results with stakeholders—health professionals, administrators, and executives. Inform patients of actions you plan on taking in response to the feedback to build trust and loyalty. 

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted in the late 1990s. According to HIPAA, protected health information (PHI) must be protected according to federally required security and privacy standards. Any organization that does not comply could potentially face serious penalties. Using a HIPAA-compliant survey will help prevent inappropriate use or disclosure of PHI.

Related reading: HIPAA Compliance at SurveyMonkey

Context matters when requesting information from patients. To ensure your business receives high-quality data, you need to contextualize the survey to your patients. When you send out a survey, introduce who it is from, why you’re sending it, and how you’ll use their feedback.

People are much more likely to take a survey if they understand your goal and know that their answers might positively impact their future experiences.

Related reading: Learn how to create a wellbeing survey 

Healthcare providers are tasked with the delicate job of providing premier patient care in a high-pressure environment. Businesses that want to deliver the best possible patient experience can use surveys to uncover what matters most to employees and patients alike.

By leveraging SurveyMonkey, healthcare organizations are empowered to seamlessly capture insights that they can use to improve their business, enhance loyalty, and maximize both patient and employee satisfaction.

Deliver better patient care with SurveyMonkey by using our healthcare survey templates or requesting a demo today.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score, and NPS are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.