Why Digital Patient Satisfaction Surveys Are Better Than Paper Surveys

A patient satisfaction survey is a powerful tool to improve the quality of care your practice provides. They bring to your attention meaningful and essential information that determines areas in need of improvement and help you develop an effective plan to improve patient satisfaction.

Telemedicine, the digital healthcare experience, is becoming increasingly popular because it offers easier access and convenience for and to patients. Through the digital platform, patient satisfaction surveys are effective at increasing healthcare providers’ feedback collection.

Traditionally, every industry gathered feedback from its consumers in paper form. That method is quickly becoming obsolete as reaching people through digital means has many benefits. 

Here are the reasons why digital patient satisfaction surveys are more effective than paper surveys:

High Response Rate

Unlike paper-based surveys — where the collection and distribution may take weeks or even months for results — digital patient satisfaction surveys have a 36% response rate — significantly higher than the 22% response rate of paper-based surveys, based on a study in The Permanente Journal. 

The conduction of digital patient satisfaction surveys can be through text messages, via digital form, email, or the healthcare provider’s website. These methods allow the patient to receive the survey and complete it right away or when it is convenient for them. 

Wide Reach

Digital patient satisfaction surveys can reach any of your patients in cities or even in rural areas. Since your patients can leave their reviews or feedback through emails or text messages, they can do it anywhere as long as they have a mobile device. For your patients who are at home, even if they’re far away, they can also leave their feedback using their computers. Unlike paper-based surveys, it’s not feasible to distribute them throughout the city or in rural areas. 

Real-Time Feedback

Healthcare providers can automatically send surveys right after a patient’s appointment, whether in-person or virtually through telemedicine. Their patients can immediately check the text message or email and complete the survey, providing real-time feedback to your practice. 

Patients, on the other hand, cannot receive the paper survey if the consultation is done virtually. While healthcare providers can still send their patients paper-based surveys, that might take a while if their patients receive them through regular mail. They may not even fully remember how their appointment went by the time they get it or have time to sit down and complete the survey and mail it back.

Real-time feedback with digital patient satisfaction surveys also makes it possible to address a patient’s negative review and provide a resolution before it appears online. 

Flexibility

Digital patient satisfaction surveys have more advanced logic features than paper-based surveys. These features enable the option to customize the experience to the respondent, including a software that has triggered alerts, where you can get notified of unsatisfied patients as soon as possible to prevent hard to reverse bad reviews. 

That is why digital surveys are more effective than paper surveys because paper surveys do not have features that are more appealing to the respondents and make the process more patient-friendly. 

Survey Presentation

Once printed, paper-based surveys aren’t changeable. For instance, if the healthcare provider has printed a thousand copies of a survey, editing those papers is no longer possible; there’s no changing of the outline and the overall design. Since digital patient satisfaction surveys are online, the provider has the control to add their company logo at a high resolution, change the doctor’s name when needed, update office information, and, perhaps most importantly, change or edit the questionnaire when needed. 

Lower Cost

Paper surveys are more expensive because of the cost of printing and postage. With digital surveys, you can explore a variety of options when it comes to survey making. For example, if you integrate a survey and ratings request software into your system, you don’t have to worry about spending money every time your paper surveys run out. It’s not practical to print paper surveys for all your patients. Your patients can access online surveys anywhere they go, and you can also share them through social media.

Why Are Digital Patient Satisfaction Surveys More Effective Than Paper Surveys?

Digital patient satisfaction surveys are more effective than paper surveys because of their efficiency and the value they add to a healthcare provider’s online reputation. Using innovative software to collect reviews and feedback allows the practice’s providers to gather a higher volume of patient surveys in real-time. The information and suggestions collected can increase patient satisfaction and improve the provider’s relationship with patients. When patients know you care about their healthcare experience, they are more loyal to you.

To learn more about automated survey and ratings requests and how you can improve the patient experience by integrating innovative software into your system, contact Curogram for a quick demo.