Healthcare Survey Center

How surveys improve healthcare

The best approach to healthcare is one where patients and healthcare providers work in close partnership. But patients and providers don’t always see eye to eye. For example, we
conducted a study that showed 89% of patients want to know information about their providers’ education and training, but only 56% of healthcare organizations provide it. As another example, 8 in 10 healthcare professionals believe most appointments start on time, but only 52% of patients agree.

Online surveys support patient-provider communication by getting feedback—both from patients and employees. A lot of hospitals, clinics, and other providers have recognized this need:

• More than half use surveys to measure employee satisfaction
• One-third use surveys to monitor patients’ health and safety habits
• Nearly 40% use surveys to probe the efficacy of patient safety culture

SurveyMonkey can help you gather and analyze more information faster. You can create custom health surveys, or rely on expert templates. Distribute surveys through email, websites, mobile devices, or even computers in waiting rooms. Then use our powerful platform to analyze the results and export professional charts.

We make it easy—and we help protect patient privacy with secure, HIPAA-compliant features.

Types of healthcare surveys

Surveys are a great way to gather information that doesn’t show up on lab tests or come up in conversation. And while patients might hesitate to provide you with direct feedback in person, surveys give them the chance to do so privately. Plus, your organization can meet national
accreditation and compliance standards by achieving certain patient satisfaction and safety ratings.
Here are a few ways to use surveys to improve your practice:

Patient satisfaction

Ask your patients to tell you about their visit and the quality of their experience with doctors, support staff, and your facilities. You can also stay in front of patients’ requests by sending out brief surveys to evaluate their needs before each office visit.

Employees and staff

Providing quality care is easier when everyone in your organization is engaged. Make sure doctors, nurses, and staff have the training and tools they need to do their jobs. You can also get feedback on internal procedures and identify potential liability issues. Here are a few common uses:

• Employee engagement
• Patient safety culture
• Training feedback and incident reports
• Event and meeting feedback
• Performance evaluation and reviews
• Exit interviews and other HR surveys

Find pre-written survey templates for surveys like these below.

Women’s and men’s health issues

Survey your female and male patients to find out what health issues are of greatest concern in your area, at specific ages, or by gender. Use patient feedback to identify staffing requirements, design new services, or
promote healthy living by putting together health education and community outreach programs.

Regular dental care

How did your patients hear about you? Why did they choose your dental office over others in their community? If they haven’t had regular dental care, why not? In addition to gathering information about patient care and preferences, use surveys to assess your strategies for patient education, scheduling regular checkups,
tracking and monitoring patient health, getting referrals, and growing your practice.

Annual eye care

An annual eye exam may be the only time an optometrist or optician sees their patients—but there are other opportunities to connect.
Poll your patients to understand their needs: Has a prescription changed? Are contact lenses still comfortable? Is there any difficulty with night-time driving? Send out an online survey before each patient’s appointment, or have them fill out a survey once they arrive for their office visit.

Medical research

To collect statistics about a specific audience or population, consider using
SurveyMonkey Audience. You can survey physicians across a particular medical specialty. Or compare habits of one of your patient groups to those across the rest of the U.S. population. Audience is seamlessly integrated with our online survey tools and features more than 30 million people who are ready to take your survey.

Surveys for veterinarians

Animals deserve great care too. From understanding how owners feel about your facilities to making sure employees are engaged and focused, surveys are a great way to improve a practice or understand a marketplace.

Set benchmarks

Whether you’re looking to improve patient satisfaction or create a safer hospital with happier employees, it’s a great idea to measure your performance over time. Developing performance benchmarks will give you a point of reference so you can understand how specific initiatives improve the healthcare or services you provide. For example, if you see that 7 out of 10 nurses are “satisfied,” with their jobs, it may be hard to know how you’re really doing. Seeing that number jump to 7.5 means you’re headed in the right direction.

HIPAA compliance

In the U.S., healthcare providers who collect protected health information (PHI) have an obligation to safeguard their patients’ privacy. If your organization has obligations under HIPAA—and wants to collect healthcare information online—we can help. We offer a business associate agreement, enhanced security features, and more. Learn more about
HIPAA compliance at SurveyMonkey.

Sample online healthcare survey templates

(Some templates available in English only.)

If you want to make sure your survey is methodologically sound – and save some time – our
survey templates can give you a head start. You can also build your own healthcare survey from scratch, or use individual questions from our
Question Bank of methodologist-certified questions.

Here are a few sample survey templates:

• Physician Performance Evaluation: Survey your patients after an office, clinic, or hospital visit to get their feedback on the care you’re providing, their interactions with your staff, or whether they have access to care when they need it.
• Hospital Performance Evaluation: Get feedback on your patients’ hospital stay and all aspects of their experience, including their medical care as well as their physical and emotional comfort and support.
• Do You Have Health Insurance: Use this survey to find out if your patients have health insurance, and to understand which alternatives they have explored if they do not have coverage. This information can help you guide them to the right options for healthcare coverage or services.
• Healthcare Expenses: Ask your patients to provide you with information into their healthcare expenses using this survey. This knowledge can help you understand potential risks – like when patients can’t afford prescribed medication or other treatments – and to consider alternatives.
• U.S. Demographics Snapshot Template, U.S. Demographics Template: Do your patients belong to an ethnic group with common health issues? What socio-economic factors might impact your patients’ health and well-being? Use these surveys to understand who you are treating in the context of a broader community or environment.
• CAHPS^® Surveys: Written by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS^®) surveys allow you to assess and benchmark your practice or plan against others in your industry, both regionally and nationally in the U.S.
• Patient Safety Culture Surveys (AHRQ^®): Whether you work in a hospital, medical office, nursing home, or pharmacy, send your employees surveys to determine if your healthcare organization is meeting national patient safety standards. Developed by the experts at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ^®), our patient safety culture survey templates are designed to help you target areas for improvement, set goals, and benchmark your results against regional and national medical organizations.

Or choose an example from the rest of our library of healthcare survey templates:

• CAHPS^® Dental Plan Survey Template
• CAHPS^® Health Plan Survey 4.0 Template
• Diet & Exercise Template
• HCAHPS^® Survey Template
• Health Insurance Evaluation Template
• Height & Weight Template
• Hospital Patient Safety Culture Template (AHRQ^®)
• Medical Office Patient Safety Culture Template (AHRQ^®)
• Nursing Home Patient Safety Culture Template (AHRQ^®)
• Personal Hygiene Template
• Pharmacy Patient Safety Culture Template (AHRQ^®)
• Smoking Template
• Veterinarian Office Staff Evaluation Template
• Veterinarian Patient Intake Template – Long Form
• Veterinarian Patient Intake Template – Short Form
• Veterinarian Performance Evaluation Template

More Articles

How to use healthcare surveys

• Conducting Healthcare Surveys
• Patient Satisfaction
• Hospital Safety Culture
• Healthcare Employee Engagement
• Medical Research

Smart ideas for healthcare surveys

• Promoting Healthy Living
• Survey Best Practices
• Monitoring Patient Health
• Benchmarking Results
• HIPAA Compliance
• Accreditation and Compliance