Comparing response rates between mobile web and telephone surveys for patient experience: a randomised experimental...

Healthcare quality improvement increasingly relies on patient experience data, yet traditional survey modes face declining response rates and rising costs. Mobile web surveys have emerged as a promising alternative for improving response rates. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of mobile web surveys in improving response rates in South Korea's Patient Experience Assessment. We also aimed to assess the impact of a mixed-mode approach integrating mobile web and follow-up telephone surveys across different demographic groups.

A randomised experimental design was employed to compare response rates as well as contact and cooperation rates among survey modes. A total of 4800 patients from four general hospitals were randomly allocated to telephone, mobile web or mixed-mode survey, with 1600 patients per mode. Each mode allowed five contact attempts through calls or mobile survey links. The mixed-mode survey included follow-up calls for mobile non-respondents.

The survey was conducted between October and November 2022 among patients discharged from four general hospitals in South Korea.

A total of 4800 patients aged 19 years or older who were hospitalised for more than 1 day and discharged within 2-56 days from four general hospitals were included in this study. Exclusion criteria included patients in day clinics, palliative care, paediatrics and neuropsychiatry, as well as those without personal information consent forms during hospital admission.

The primary outcome measure was the response rate for each survey mode. Secondary outcome measures included the contact rate and the cooperation rate.

The mobile web survey yielded an overall higher response rate (32.5%) than the telephone survey (22.4%), with the mixed-mode survey achieving the highest response rate (39.3%). Decomposing response rates revealed that while contact rates were comparable for both telephone and mobile web surveys, the cooperation rate was considerably higher for the mobile web survey (73.2%) compared with the telephone survey (52.2%). Substantial gender-age subgroup differences were found.

Adopting mobile web surveys for patient experience assessments, which aligns with the public's preference for information and communication technologies, could significantly improve response rates in patient experience surveys.

KCT0011374 (post-results).