Family surveys: measuring more than just satisfaction

A satisfaction survey can be beneficial to an agency if it is carefully planned and designed to facilitate quality feedback. The survey should be as short as possible and not appear to the respondent as an ominous task to complete. Care should be taken in developing the appropriate questions, asked in an objective manner that invites a positive or negative response. If possible, the capability should be developed to associate individual responses with the patient's demographic information. This linkage allows for further analysis and identification of characteristics of those who respond favorably and those who do not. Length of stay, patient days, a specific county, a staff team, or particular staff members are but a few examples of analysis criteria that might produce valuable information and possible focus for improvements.