Ideas That Work: Paperless Patient Surveys

FAST FEEDBACK E-mail patients a link to your online satisfaction survey.

Paperless Patient Surveys

The trend in paperwork has been to go paperless. Patients fill out pre-admission medical histories online, and EMRs on tablet screens are replacing charts in binders. So why are you still stuffing satisfaction surveys into patients' discharge documents?

Instead, ask patients for their e-mail addresses when they check in. Then send them a message that not only thanks them for choosing your center, but includes a link to the online survey you've set up and would appreciate if they'd complete. There are plenty of accessible, customizable survey services on the web; SurveyMonkey, for example, has worked well for us.

Putting your satisfaction survey at patients' fingertips, one click away, makes it a convenient and even automatic step for patients. We've seen an uptick in our response rates. But it also means that the resulting data is easily captured for quality assurance purposes, and saves your facility the cost of paper, pre-stamped envelopes, printing and time.

Shelley Allison, RN
EndoCenter
Covington, La.
[email protected]