Modern medical care is evolving at a dizzying pace. It is not only the quality of services provided that is crucial, but also the ability to adapt and continuously improve based on regular feedback from patients. Gathering feedback enables a deeper understanding of patients' needs, optimizing clinical processes and achieving better therapeutic results. In interviews conducted with physicians by the American Medical Association, many emphasize that receiving regular feedback from patients helps them better understand their expectations and needs. A significant group of doctors point out that feedback helps them improve their work efficiency and increase empathy in their interactions with patients. In turn, doctors from clinics that have implemented digital feedback systems point to benefits in terms of improved collaboration with medical teams and faster therapeutic decisions.

So in this article, we'll look at the most effective methods for capturing treatment feedback and discuss the benefits of doing so for both doctors and medical facilities. You'll learn what methods of collecting patient feedback are currently available and the challenges of implementing these systems.

Methods of collecting feedback from patients

Feedback in the context of health care is the systematic collection of information from patients about their feelings and experiences with the treatment process. It goes beyond evaluating the organization of visits or communication with the doctor. First and foremost, it encompasses patients' subjective perceptions about the effectiveness of treatment, comfort and overall health during and after treatment. With feedback, physicians can monitor patients' responses to therapy and observe changes in their condition on an ongoing basis. This is crucial for optimizing the treatment process and improving outcomes [3].

Examples of feedback may include information about the effectiveness of treatment, subjective improvements in the patient's condition, possible side effects, and personal evaluation of treatment progress. This form of communication between patient and doctor allows for better customization of treatment and faster response to problems that arise. As a result, this leads to more effective and personalized medical care. So how do you effectively collect feedback from patients?

Online surveys

Online surveys are one of the most popular tools for collecting patient feedback. They can be customized to meet the specific needs of a clinic or department, allowing for detailed data on treatment, staff interaction and overall service quality. The key is to properly select questions that focus on different aspects of care, such as the effectiveness of treatment or communication with the doctor. Surveys can include both closed and open-ended questions, giving patients the opportunity to freely express their opinions (Survio).

Example tools:

• SurveyMonkey: a popular online survey creation tool commonly used in hospitals and clinics. Allows creation of personalized surveys with a wide range of questions, including treatment effectiveness.
• Google Forms: a simple and free tool, often used by smaller medical facilities. Allows quick creation of survey forms.
• Qualtrics: an advanced platform for collecting patient opinions, widely used in the medical sector. It allows not only survey creation, but also real-time data analysis and report generation.

Feedback via text messages

Short text messages are gaining popularity as a tool for getting quick feedback from patients. This form of feedback is particularly effective when evaluating current aspects of a visit, such as doctor availability, waiting time or quality of communication. Text communication (e.g. through medical instant messaging) allows doctors to receive immediate information, allowing them to respond quickly and eliminate potential problems.

One of the latest trends in collecting feedback is the ability for patients to provide immediate feedback. Thanks to modern technology, such as mobile apps, patients can send their feedback right after a visit. Tools such as Doctor.One or allow patients to monitor their health between visits, and offer the option to send short questions assessing the quality of care. This solution allows for quick analysis of problems and customized treatment.

Patient satisfaction monitoring systems (CEM - Customer Experience Management)

Customer Experience Management (CEM) systems are used to continuously monitor the patient experience. These advanced solutions not only collect feedback on treatment, but also analyze data in real time. They provide comprehensive information on patient satisfaction, drawing from a variety of sources such as surveys, social media and SMS messages.

Example tools:

• Press Ganey: a leading provider of patient satisfaction monitoring tools used in hundreds of hospitals around the world. The platform comprehensively analyzes patient feedback from outpatient visits and hospitalizations, assessing various aspects of medical care.
• Medallia: a global CEM platform for collecting patient feedback from a variety of sources, such as online surveys and mobile apps. It enjoys widespread use in the healthcare sector, especially in the United States and Europe.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

The NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a popular method of assessing patient satisfaction that can also be applied in the context of treatment. It involves asking one key question: "How likely are you to recommend our services to others?" Patients respond, using a scale from 0 to 10.

NPS provides a quick overview of patient satisfaction and loyalty. It can also be adapted to evaluate treatment processes.

Application examples:

• Medallia NPS: a tool to measure patient loyalty based on a single key question, widely used in clinics around the world.
• Qualtrics NPS: integrated with other Qualtrics tools to monitor patient satisfaction. NPS enables analysis of both loyalty and treatment effectiveness.

Benefits of regular feedback collection

The systematic collection of patient opinions brings a number of benefits, directly affecting the quality of medical care and the efficiency of doctors and health facilities.

Improving the quality of treatment

Patient feedback is a rich source of information about the effectiveness of therapies and treatment processes. Doctors who regularly analyze feedback can more efficiently tailor treatments to individual patients' needs. Studies show that medics who take into account feedback from their charges are able to increase treatment compliance by up to 18% (WHO Telemedicine Report).

Increase patient loyalty

Patients who perceive that their feedback is taken into account show greater loyalty to clinics and doctors. Systematic collection of feedback gives patients the feeling that they are being listened to, resulting in increased trust and more regular visits. According to a report by Press Ganey, clinics using advanced feedback systems report a 15-20% increase in patient satisfaction [3].

Optimization of clinical processes

Collecting feedback enables not only improving the quality of care, but also optimizing internal clinical processes. Feedback helps manage appointment schedules more efficiently, leading to better use of resources. Clinics using feedback systems show a greater willingness to respond quickly to problems reported by patients. As a result, they significantly improve their overall efficiency (Bain & Company).

Challenges and prospects

Physicians face numerous challenges in eliciting feedback from patients, especially when it comes to assessing the effectiveness of therapy, the effects of medications and the overall well-being of the patient:

1. Communication barriers: patients often have difficulty accurately expressing their symptoms or describing the impact of therapy. This may be due to language barriers, cognitive problems or the stress of a medical visit. These difficulties interfere with doctors' ability to adjust the treatment plan based on the information they receive [1, 2].
2. Reporting bias: patients' opinions may be distorted by their expectations or emotions. For example, a patient may report feeling better solely because he or she expects the therapy to work, or conversely, he or she may complain about the treatment because of side effects, even though the therapy is effective. Such cases make it difficult for the doctor to objectively assess the patient's condition [1].
3. Time constraints: the short visit time often prevents a detailed discussion of the patient's response to treatment. Doctors have only a few minutes to gather accurate information about the effects of therapy or potential drug-related problems [1].
4. Lack of standardized tools: although tools such as patient satisfaction surveys and pain assessment scales exist, they often do not cover all aspects of treatment - for example, the impact on patient quality of life. Standardized questionnaires that collect data on patient-reported outcomes are crucial, but still rarely used in daily practice [2].
5. Motivating patients to provide regular feedback: despite the patient's initial agreement to monitor and provide feedback, maintaining regularity in the process is a challenge. Patients often forget to complete surveys or answer questions. The physician must therefore develop an effective strategy to engage patients and encourage them to share information on a regular basis. While this requires additional effort, it is crucial to ensure continuity of care.
6. Data protection and privacy: collecting information about patients' treatment and well-being requires compliance with privacy regulations such as RODO. Doctors using digital monitoring systems must ensure that patient data is properly secured. Concerns about information security may discourage some medics from taking full advantage of advanced digital tools.

Summary

Systematic collection of patient opinions is the foundation of modern healthcare. Implementing innovative tools - online surveys or mobile apps - allows doctors and medical facilities not only to improve the quality of treatment, but also to streamline clinical processes and reputation management. Despite the challenges of data protection and information analysis, the benefits of regular feedback are undeniable. They lead to more efficient and patient-centered medical care.

And what does it look like in your practice? Do you regularly collect feedback from your patients? If not, this may be the perfect time to start. With the help of modern tools and technology, the process is easier than ever before. The benefits - for both patients and medical facilities - are invaluable.

1. Deborah J Baldie, Bruce Guthrie, Vikki Entwistle, Thilo Kroll, Exploring the impact and use of patients' feedback about their care experiences in general practice settings - a realist synthesis, Family Practice, Volume 35, Issue 1, February 2018, Pages 13-21, https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmx067
2. Gualandi, R., Masella, C., Piredda, M. et al. What does the patient have to say? Valuing the patient experience to improve the patient journey., BMC Health Serv Res 21, 347 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06341-3
3. Report The evolving expectations of today's healthcare consumer 2023, Press Ganey, https://www.pressganey.com/hx-insights/the-evolving-expectations-of-todays-healthcare-consumer/
4. Leung K, Lu-McLean D, Kuziemsky C, Booth R, Collins Rossetti S, Borycki E, Strudwick GUsing Patient and Family Engagement Strategies to Improve Outcomes of Health Information Technology Initiatives: Scoping Review J Med Internet Res 2019;21(10):e14683, https://www.jmir.org/2019/10/e14683
5. Arkesteijn K, Belopolsky AV, Smeets JBJ and Donk M (2019) The Limits of Predictive Remapping of Attention Across Eye Movements. Front. Psychol. 10:1146. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01146, https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01146/full
6. SAGE Open Medicine, GDPR Compliance in Healthcare: Challenges and Best Practices, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2055207618774220
7. WHO Telemedicine Report

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