In today’s healthcare landscape, the patient’s voice has never been more critical. With increasing competition and a greater emphasis on patient-centered care, understanding what truly matters to your patients can set your practice apart.

Surveys aren’t just a tool for measuring satisfaction—they are a strategic asset that can drive long-term loyalty and operational efficiency.

By carefully crafting the questions to ask a patient, you tap into a wealth of insights that can guide decisions at every level of your organization.

In this post, we’ll cover some of the best patient experience questions Feedtrail clients include in their surveys that gather actionable data to drive improvements.

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Why asking the right patient survey questions is important to get actionable patient feedback?

In healthcare, asking the right questions is crucial to understanding patient needs and improving care quality.

By using targeted patient satisfaction survey questions examples, you can identify areas of strength and opportunities for improvement.

For instance, hospital patient satisfaction survey questions help you measure the effectiveness of care in a hospital setting, while clinic patient satisfaction survey questions are tailored for outpatient services.

Understanding which questions to ask patients ensures that the feedback you receive is relevant and actionable.

Questions should tie back to your initiatives so you can streamline surveys with the most important questions that inform action.

Moreover, well-crafted questions serve as a bridge between patient perceptions and organizational performance.

They allow you to pinpoint specific pain points, such as long wait times or communication gaps, that might otherwise go unnoticed.

This level of detail is essential for implementing changes that have a real impact on patient satisfaction.

By continuously refining your questions, you can ensure your surveys evolve with the needs of your patients, making them a powerful tool for continuous improvement.

The 10 best patient experience survey questions to ask your patients

Effective survey design starts with the right questions. Using well-crafted healthcare survey questions can provide deep insights into patient experiences.

The questions you choose can significantly influence the quality and usefulness of the feedback you receive.

Whether you’re looking for sample questions for a patient satisfaction survey or crafting new ones, focusing on areas like access to care, provider communication, and cultural respect will help ensure your surveys are comprehensive and impactful.

Each question should be purposefully selected to uncover the insights that will drive your organization forward.

Here are the top 10 patient experience questions that healthcare professionals should consider:

(Please note any question with an asterisk* is available to utilize in the Feedtrail benchmark.)

Question 1: Access to care*

“Where you able to get an appointment as soon as needed?”

“What would’ve helped you get seen for an appointment sooner?”

Access is paramount in healthcare as it directly influences timely and effective treatment, patient satisfaction, and overall health outcomes.

This patient satisfaction survey question example helps you identify and address barriers to access ensuring that individuals receive the care they need when they need it, contributing to a healthcare system that is both responsive and patient-centered.

Your multiple-choice answer options should tie back to processes or items you can control, such as preferred business hours.

Question 2: Missed appointments

“What prevented you from being able to attend your appointment?”

Understanding the reasons behind missed appointments is crucial for healthcare providers to address potential barriers, enhance patient engagement, and optimize scheduling processes.

This insight allows for targeted improvements, and by including this in your sample patient satisfaction survey questions, you can offer support for transportation issues or providing reminders, ultimately promoting better adherence to appointments and continuity of care

Question 3: Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC)

“Are you interested in joining our Advisory Council to provide additional feedback on how we can improve our services?”

Patient and Family Advisory Councils provide healthcare organizations with an inside view when it comes to decision making.

Patients that are already engaged enough to provide feedback can be the perfect place to recruit new members to your PFAC, while ensuing they meet the minimum requirements of the role.

Question 4: Recognition

“Is there anyone you’d like to recognize from your experience?”

In a world, where healthcare turnover was higher than ever only two years ago, it’s not too late to say thank you.

At Feedtrail we’ve found that 80% of the feedback we collect is positive and complimentary in nature and asking patients if they would like to recognize anyone that made their experience better helps expand those kudos beyond just their provider.

Question 5: Included in decision making

“Did the care team include you in the decision-making process?”

“How could the care team include you better?”

No one chooses to be sick.

However, everyone wants a sense of agency when addressing their healthcare needs.

If a patient is at a point in their journey where they may not feel a sense of control, it’s the perfect time to ask how we could include them better and get provider-specific answers we can address with their care team.

This question is key among patient satisfaction survey questions as it gauges how well your team communicates and collaborates with patients.

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Question 6: Care environment

“Was the care environment clean and comfortable?”

“What could improve the care environment?”

Patients want peace, quiet, and cleanliness.

If they’re not getting that, it’s easy to get a detailed understanding of exactly what is missing and use that to improve environmental services workflows/reporting.

Use this sample question for patient satisfaction surveys to assess the cleanliness and comfort of your facilities.

Question 7: Culture, background, and beliefs

“Were your cultural background or beliefs respected and valued during your visit?”

“How could we respect your cultural background or beliefs better?”

Patients of all backgrounds need and deserve to be respected.

Assessing whether someone’s background and beliefs are valued can provide key insights into whether your team is a reflection of their community, and how you can better create that bond with your patient population.

Including this in your patient satisfaction survey questions ensures that all patients feel respected and understood, fostering trust and satisfaction.

Question 8: Provider communication*

“How well did the provider listen to you and understand your concerns?”

“How could the provider listen and understand your concerns better?”

Provider communication historically has some of the highest correlation to how likely a patient is to recommend your healthcare organization to friends or family.

If providers are not explaining things in a way patients understand or rushing through a visit, they are directly impacting the bottom line.

This patient experience question helps you measure how well providers interact with patients and where improvements can be made.

Question 9: Wait time*

“Please rate the wait time to see your provider.”

“Where did your wait take place?”

“What would improve the waiting experience?”

We all know wait time is a pain.

It’s every healthcare organizations’ most common complaint.

However, understanding what could make patients’ waiting experience more enjoyable can drastically change their perception of the wait, without having to hire more staff or reduce the actual wait time itself.

By including this question in your hospital patient satisfaction survey questions, you can gather insights on how to make the waiting experience more pleasant.

Question 10: Net Promoter Score (NPS)*

“How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or family member on a scale of 0 – 10, where 10 is the most likely?”

No survey would be complete without NPS.

It’s the center of the experience universe and the metric organizations use to understand patient loyalty and the overall effectiveness of patient experience programs.

Patients that select 9 or 10 are promoters, 7 or 8 are passives, and 6 and below are detractors.

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How Feedtrail helps you prepare the right patient satisfaction questions for your survey 

At Feedtrail, we specialize in helping healthcare organizations design and implement patient satisfaction surveys that yield actionable insights.

Our platform allows you to create patient satisfaction surveys that are personalized to your patient population and aligned with your organizational goals.

By leveraging our expertise, you can ensure that your patient satisfaction survey questions are effective, comprehensive, and directly tied to improving patient care.

Get patient satisfaction survey question templates

Download the Resource “The Top 10 Patient Experience Survey Questions to Drive Change” to get a patient satisfaction survey template with potential answers and follow up questions:

10 Best Patient Satisfaction Survey Questions to Ask as a Healthcare Professional