LECTURE 10

OBTAINING PATIENTS/CLIENTS FEEDBACK

 What is patient feedback?
• consists of views/opinions of patients/clients on the care they experienced.

• Healthcare organisations can gather patient feedback in a variety of ways including surveys,
audits, comments and complaints.

• Staff who work directly with patients can also offer a useful perspective.

• Reliable evidence can be gathered systematically using a range of techniques including focus
groups, one-to-one interviews and mystery shopping.

• It is important to select the most appropriate method for your task.

 What patients want?
• The first step is to seek patients/service users experiences

• Examining feedback will give a direct insight into what is working well or not

• You will discover examples of good practice where lessons can be learnt, and,
areas of concern where improvements can be made.
What patients want 2
• fast access to reliable health advice
• effective treatment delivered by trusted professionals
• participation in decisions and respect for preferences
• clear, comprehensible information and support for self-care
• attention to physical and environmental needs
• emotional support, empathy and respect
• involvement of, and support for family and carers
• continuity of care and smooth transitions.
Ways to obtain patients/clients
feedback
• Comment Card.
• Customer Questionnaire.
• Focus Groups.
• Toll Free Telephone No.
• Customer Visits.
• Report Card.
• Internet & Computer.
• Employee Feedback.
• Customer complaints
• Suggestion box
COMMENT CARD
• Comment card can be attached to the warranty card &
included with the product at the time of the purchase

• Intent of this card is to get simple information such as name ,

age, address, occupation & what made the customer buy that
product

• FOR patients THERE IS LITTLE OR NO INCENTIVE TO COMMENT

• Patients DO RESPOND WHEN THERE IS SOMETHING VERY

GOOD OR VERY BAD
Patients QUESTIONNAIRE
• Popular tool for obtaining opinion & perceptions about an
org./Product/svs

• Costly & time consuming

• Most surveys ask the customer to grade the question on a 1-5 or

1-10 likert scale

• Does not tell about the importance of individual question relative

to others

• Nor does it tell what customers expect from organization

Patients QUESTIONNAIRE 2

• Results are not representative of the normal population

• Those who feel very good or very bad respond only

 TEACHING METHODOLOGY OF MUHAMAD ASIF

HIGHLY NEUTRAL HIGHLY

PARAMETER
SATISFIED DISSATIS
• COMMUNICATION SKILLS 5 4 3 2 1

• GRIP ON THE SUBJECT 5 4 3 2 1

• ANSWER TO THE QUESTIONS 5 4 3 2 1

• WHOLE CLASS PARTICIPATION 5 4 3 2 1

• DO U FEEL ANY VALUE ADDITION 5 4 3 2 1

AFTER HIS CLASS

• DO U GO HOME SATISFIED AFTER 5 4 3 2 1

ATTENDING HIS LECTURE
 Patient's Survey

1. Patients ARE NOT SAME

2. Survey raise patients expectation

3. How u ask a question will determine how the question is answered

4. The more specific the question, the better the answer

 TO MAKE SURVEY MORE USEFUL REMEMBER

1. You have only one chance & 15 min.( Max. Time A customer
will give to respond A survey)

2. More time you spend in survey development, less time you get
in data analysis & interpretation

3. Who you ask is as important as what you ask

4. Before data are collected , you should know how you want to
analyse & use the data
 FOCUS GROUPS
• Popular way to obtain feedback

• Surveying a focus group is a research method used to find out what

customers are really expecting

• Group of customers is assembled in the meeting room to collect data

• Carefully prepared answers are asked by skilled moderator who probes

into participants ideas, thoughts, perceptions & comments

• People selected have the same profile as the expected customer

• Focus groups are sometimes used within organizations to address

internal issues
TOLL FREE PHONE NO.

• Effective technique for complaint feedback

• Organization can respond faster & cheaply to the complaints

CUSTOMER VISITS
• Visit to a customers place of business/home is an
effective way to gather information

• Accurate information obtained enable people to see first

hand how a service is performing
• REPORT CARD

• THE INTERNET & THE COMPUTER

 EMPLOYEES FEEDBACK
• Employees are untapped source of information

• Conventionally companies listen more to the external customers & less to the
internal customers

• Employees usually provide deeper insight into conditions

• Customers research reveals what is happening

• Employees research reveals why it is happening

• It should be regularly solicited rather than checking the wooden box annually
Using patients complaints
1. Employees feedbacks obtained are usually proactive

2. Customer complaint is reactive but very useful

3. survey reveals that about

*1.5% complaints reach top management
*20% to front line personnel
*80% don’t report

4. Frequently dissatisfied customers don’t say anything &

quietly switch over to competitor.
• once you have identified the complaints/ problems

• now turn to elimination/solving

• incorporate customer voice into product/ service

internal benchmarking
• Compare results within an organisation: ‘internal benchmarking’

• Results can also be used to identify if certain departments, clinical specialties or

wards are performing better than others.

• If the organisation is performing particularly well in some areas it may be possible

to identify the reasons why and to adopt similar practices elsewhere
Sharing feedback
• Raising awareness is an essential part of involving patients and the public in
improving healthcare services.

• Communicating the results of your enquiries – and what you plan to do with
them – will help to ensure that they are used effectively and not forgotten.
 Who should you share feedback
with?
Internal audiences External audiences
• Patients
• board members
• Public
• senior managers
• local authorities and voluntary groups
• staff at all levels, in both clinical and
support roles
• other healthcare organisations

• volunteers.
• the media.
 Sharing the feedback

Direct methods Indirect methods

• Communications that are compiled and • This makes use of a third party’s
sent directly by you have the advantage of communications.
being under your control,

• but your ability to reach all your audiences • They will help you to reach a wider
may be limited. audience but be aware that your material
may get altered or edited to suit others’
needs or ‘agenda’.
 key issues in devising a communications strategy:
• Who you want to reach
– identify your audiences and who would benefit from this information What you want to share
– establish what you want to say and whether the message needs to be tailored for specific audiences. Focus on
positive as well as negative themes for a balanced view

• Why you want to share the information

– be clear about what you want to achieve and what you want your audience to do as a result

• When and where you are going to communicate

– choose a time to reach your audience when they are likely to be most receptive. Break the activity down into
‘bite-size’ stages
– inform audiences about your activities before they take place, as well as after to help prepare them and establish
a positive relationship

• How you will share your information

– consider the best formats to reach each audience. This will vary according to their needs and circumstances.
Action planning for improvement
• Gathering patient feedback is a limited exercise unless something
constructive is done with the findings to bring about improvements.

• Having analysed your results, you then need to decide what to do

with them and where to focus your efforts and resources
 selecting areas for action
• It is important to prioritize areas for action.

• It is better not to tackle everything at once, but stick to a few main priorities for action.

• Choose areas that show clear potential for improvement.

• If plans are too ambitious they may fail so it is important to be realistic and choose
approaches that are likely to succeed.

• Small successes will help to keep the momentum going and encourage continuous
improvement.
 Conclusion
• If clinical quality is to be at the heart of everything we do, then it must be understood from
the perspective of patients/clients.

• The understanding can only be made via honest and constructive feedback

• This feedback can only be obtained in an enabling environment

• Communicating the feedback and action planning is key to service improvement