Importance of Patient Surveys

Patients survey keeping track of outcome is just as important as monitoring if your clients are truly happy with your care. Many midwives just assuming everyone is happy with the superb service your midwife business is giving. There may be some things to improve on with customer care and patient processes that can really help your customer satisfaction scores.

Send satisfaction surveys out by email, mail, phone call, or comment box directly at the office. Have a few times throughout pregnancy care that surveys are sent out (approx half way through prenatal visits, immediately after birth, 6 weeks postpartum, and 6 months postpartum). Make it random and not to every client. That is a lot of extra administration and many clients will get tired of so much extra paperwork to complete.

Make the Surveys as Unbiased as Possible. 

Use an outsourced survey company, keep names anonymous, and have questions as neutral to respond as possible. Refrain from questions like, “We know that are care is amazing, but we want to ask a few questions.” Start out more like, “We are continually improving our care to the community, please spend some time answer these few questions. Thank you.”

Make surveys approx 10-15 questions long. You want a good idea of how care is going, but want clients to actually spend the time in their busy schedules to fill it out. The more automated and convenient survey is, more likely people will fill it out. Emails with simple click answers having response rates that mailing survey out.

Give the entire family an opportunity to complete the survey (not just the clients). Partners, grandparents, and children are all part of the care experience. As midwives we stress birth is a family event, make your surveys that same mentality. Dad will have a different view point during birth than mother will of how care went. Women may have loved her labor care, but Dad was sad from no snacks and water bottles being available at birth center to help labor team stay at the top of their game.

Take your positive feedback to use as testimonials for marketing and bring to staff meetings to show team what wonderful things are being said about them. Having constructive feedback allows midwife business to grow and improve their services to the families in area. For a successful midwife business to have constant waiting lists of clients craving your services, give community what they are asking for.