Introduction

Healthcare surveys are an essential part of any healthcare organisation. They help you understand your patients and caregivers, connect with them in meaningful ways, and identify areas where improvements can be made. To conduct a healthcare survey that provides actionable insights for everyone involved in your organisation, first define the research objective and then follow these steps:

1. Define your research objective to conduct a healthcare survey

Research objectives should be specific and measurable. They should be measurable in terms of time, money, or outcomes (such as the number of people affected) and must also be achievable. And finally, they need to align with the organisation's mission statement. The objective should also align with stakeholders' expectations for how it will conduct itself in the future (i.e., "To provide quality health care that exceeds our patients' needs").

It should be the driving force behind your data collection. It should be clearly and succinctly stated at the beginning of each study and serve as a measuring stick for whether or not your research was successful. Find out more about data collection in HBS Online's recent article.

A good research objective to conduct a healthcare survey should include the following elements:

-Specific and measurable

-Aligned with your mission statement and stakeholder expectations

-Driving force behind your data collection

-A measuring stick for whether or not your research was successful

-Should be clearly and succinctly stated at the beginning of each study

Learn more about research objectives in this post.

2. Identify the type of survey you need to conduct

Before you begin to conduct a healthcare survey, identify the types of surveys that you can run. Below are some types of healthcare surveys.

• B2C: Business-to-consumer surveys
• B2B: Business-to-business surveys
• Quantitative: surveys that rely on numerical data (e.g., the number of patients who received a specific treatment)
• Qualitative: surveys that rely on non-numerical data (e.g., patient satisfaction scores or comments)

You can also decide whether to collect data through focus groups and interviews, or with surveys and questionnaires. And if you’re conducting healthcare market research surveys, it’s important to know where they will be conducted—online or offline.

When it comes to healthcare market research surveys, an online survey is typically more cost-effective than an offline one. That’s because an online survey allows you to reach a wider audience at once and with less effort. However, if your goal is to get in-depth information about each respondent’s experiences and opinions, then an offline survey may be the better choice.

You also need to decide whether your healthcare market research surveys will be conducted in person or over the phone. In-person interviews are more time-consuming. However, they allow you to collect more detailed information from each respondent. This can be especially useful if your survey is focused on specific medical problems or treatments. For instance, this is useful when you have a survey that asks patients about their experiences with knee replacement surgery.

3. Set a timeline and budget

The size and scope of your survey will affect the time and money required for planning. If you need to reach a large number of stakeholders, it will take more time than a smaller survey. If your organisation has limited resources, consider looking for funding from other sources like foundations or government agencies.

The following is an overview of what goes into designing and conducting surveys:

1. Decide on the purpose of the survey.

2. Identify key stakeholders and set clear expectations for participation.

3. Develop a plan for recruiting participants, sending them invitations to participate in your survey, and following up with those who don’t respond as expected (i.e., “non-responders”).

4. Determine how many people you want to reach with each survey, then design questions that meet their needs while also collecting the information you need to make decisions about your project or program.

5. Write questions that are clear, concise, and unbiased.

6. Develop a plan for analysing survey data and reporting results.

If you want the types of questions to ask, check out our recent blog post. We run you through the different types of questions in a healthcare survey.

4. Promote your survey

You can promote your healthcare survey in a variety of ways:

• Use social media to share the link to your survey and ask people to take it.
• Send an email that includes the link to your survey and a brief description of its purpose.
• Print flyers or posters with the link on them and hang them around town or distribute them by mail.
• Call people on the phone and let them know about the survey (this is especially effective for small surveys).

When you’re ready to launch your survey, make sure that you have a clear idea of what information you want to gather from it. This will help guide your design choices when creating the survey.

The first question of your survey should be a brief introduction that explains the purpose of the survey and what people will get out of taking it. Include any necessary demographic information in this section as well. If you need people to provide personal information, such as their age or zip code, do so here. Learn 9 strategies to promote your survey in this LinkedIn post.

5. Collect the data and analyse it

Once you've collected the data, it's time to analyse it. You should be able to answer questions such as:

• How many people are affected by this issue?
• What are their demographics?
• Who is more likely to be affected by the problem in question: men or women, young or old?
• What other factors might influence their experience with this problem (age, income level, etc.)?

Once you have a clearer picture of your population's experience with this problem, it's time to make recommendations based on what they told you. This could mean developing new policies around training or engaging patients in conversations about how best to address concerns. In addition, learning from surveys can help organisations improve processes over time. They can also help increase customer satisfaction overall!

Surveys are a powerful tool for understanding your customer's experience, but they're not the only ones. In fact, surveys should be used in conjunction with other methods like focus groups and interviews. When you want to know how people feel about something, it's best to ask them directly.

6. Report the results and make recommendations

In order to make the best use of your data, you must be able to analyse, interpret and report on it. A well-written survey report is essential for any business or organisation that wants to understand its customers better. The purpose of this section is not only to help you conduct a survey but also to help you use the results from that survey in an effective way.

It’s important for you to know what questions to ask. Additionally, you should know how you can translate those answers into actionable insights that will improve the way the organisation operates. You need this information so that you can develop strategies that are aligned with what your customers want and expect. In addition, you can give them something they didn’t know they needed or wanted until now!

The survey report should be a summary of your findings, along with recommendations based on those findings. It should also include any charts or tables you used in the analysis of the data, as well as any other information that will help people understand what you did and why it matters.

The report should be no more than 10 pages in length and include all of the following elements:-

• Survey objectives and questions 
• Demographics of your sample population
• A summary of how many people responded to your survey (and what percentage)
• An analysis of how those respondents answered each question

7. Apply lessons learned over time

You want to ensure that you are constantly learning and adapting based on the feedback and results you get from each survey.

Once you have completed a few surveys, you will learn how to effectively ask questions and gather relevant data. This knowledge is vital when it comes time to create your next survey so that it is more effective than the last one. After all, if your surveys do not reflect the needs of your customers or employees, there is no point in conducting them in the first place!

In order for customers or employees to complete a survey willingly and honestly, they must trust that their feedback will be used for good rather than bad. If people feel safe giving honest answers about their experiences with your company or brand then they are more likely to do so in future surveys as well. The more surveys you conduct, the better your chances of finding out what your customers and employees really want. It may take some time before you get enough data to draw any conclusions from but once you do, it will be worth all the effort!

Healthcare organisations conduct a healthcare survey to understand patients, caregivers, and professionals

Healthcare surveys are crucial for understanding patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and organisations. They can be used to:

• collect data on needs and gaps in care or services
• identify patient-reported outcomes; determine levels of satisfaction with care
• assess perceptions of adherence to quality standards
• identify areas where a company needs to train the staff
• measure the impact of interventions on patient outcomes

A healthcare survey does not have to be complicated. It just has to work for your organisation.

It is important to remember that a successful healthcare survey should provide you with clear, actionable information. A survey that only asks questions without offering solutions will not be very useful.

A healthcare survey should be clear, concise, and direct. It should provide you with the information that you need to make decisions about your organisation’s services or programs. A good healthcare survey will allow for easy analysis of results and offer recommendations for improvement.

Final thoughts to conduct a healthcare survey

We hope this article has given you a good idea of how to conduct a healthcare survey. There are many types of surveys and some might be better suited to your needs than others. It’s important to have an objective in mind before you start. You should also set a budget and timeline for the project so that it doesn’t get out of control. Promoting your survey is also key so that people know about it! 

The process for conducting a healthcare survey is fairly straightforward. However, it can be challenging to find the right questions to ask.

You'll want to begin by thinking about the purpose of your survey. Is it meant to collect information about how satisfied patients are with their care? Or do you need to collect data about the effectiveness of new treatments? Are you trying to get feedback from patients on their experience with the hospital? Do you want to understand how they feel about their doctors? Then make sure that your goals are clearly stated in each question.

Once you've decided on your goals, it's time to start writing questions. Start with broad questions that allow respondents to share their own experiences and then move into more specific ones that require them to give specific answers. In order for these surveys to be effective, they need both open-ended questions and multiple-choice options. This will help you better understand what exactly respondents are looking for when they come. You can also tailor your approach specifically towards their needs instead of just those expected across all demographics or age groups.

Conclusion

Conducting a healthcare survey isn’t an easy task, especially when you are doing it for the first time. That’s why it is important to consult experts who are knowledgeable in the field. Looking to conduct such a survey? Contact us today!