Analysis of Conducting Survey - Essay Example

Analysis of Conducting Survey This survey is disturbing in several ways. At first glance, the first thing that I see a possible issue with is that there is no stated clear and precise goal. There is no information written at the top other than “SSS Survey”. What is “SSS?” What does it have to do with? While I appreciate that the writers of the survey were probably intending to hand these surveys out to people that knew where they had been, I feel that, first and foremost, the title should have been spelled out, along with giving the name of the hospital either beside or beneath it. I also feel that it should possibly include contact information such as address of the hospital and the name of a patient representative that could be contacted with any questions. I find it curious that there are no provisions in this survey to collect demographic data at the beginning. Nothing asks about age or gender, or if they have been to this particular hospital before, or if this was their first stay. It would be wise to include questions that relate to that demographic data on this survey, such as age, gender, and if this is a first-time stay or a return stay. I also feel, in looking over the questions asking about general impressions, courtesy of staff, etc., that there should be an opportunity to explain if they had a negative reaction. While the questions themselves are in a structured manner, and in the right place (at the top of the survey, as they are general questions), I feel that the survey could use the opportunity to gather an explanation of what may have rated a negative opinion. They should also include the option of “other”, in case the patient wishes to be more specific than the survey has room to offer. The “Procedure” question, listed second after asking the date of the hospital stay, is too sensitive to be asked at all. What difference does it make what type of procedure a patient was there for? The type of procedure should not matter, and frankly, I believe that it violates a patient’s privacy to ask that question. This survey jumps around in format entirely too much to make it easy to read. There is no feel of “flow” to the survey. The questions, while following a format of general to specific, jump back again to general afterwards, which is not right. They should include all general questions at the beginning of the survey, such as the selection of physician and hospital, not after the specifics of what the opinion was during the stay, along with giving clear, process-specific choices for how the patient came to decide the hospital and physician. These choices should be given for both the physician selection and the hospital selection, not just the hospital. Again, this makes the survey very confusing, and hard to understand. I believe that the survey should then lead into how a patient was treated at the beginning of the stay, through surgery, recovery, and up to discharge. While there are questions on the survey that fit these criteria, it would be better to regroup them and create a better flow to the survey. This survey uses entirely too many abbreviations. What does “exc.” mean? Unless the survey questions are read thoroughly, it is hard to discern this. Also, the part asking about “concern” completely baffles me. I have no idea what they are asking for. Was the staff in the x-ray room “excellently concerned” about me? Though this thought makes no sense, it is the first thought that I had based on the questions. This section of the survey needs to be completely re-worked to provide clarity and purpose to the questions. It is far too confusing to answer accurately as it stands now. These questions also deserve to have more room for explanation. Though at least in this area the patient is offered the chance to explain, there is little to no room to do so. This creates, to me, the impression that though the hospital is asking for feedback, they are not really interested in receiving it, as there is no room given for a patient or caregiver to explain. The questions about a delay of surgery and discharge instructions need to be reworded to take advantage of easier terms and a more simple sentence structure. While they may seem straightforward on the surface, there are many definitions of “adequate” in the “adequate discharge instructions”. Different people could interpret this in different ways, leading to confusing responses. To obtain a more accurate picture, the question should be reworded to ask several shorter questions. I feel likewise about the surgery question; it should be broken into several smaller, easier to understand questions with clear options given to answer. I am glad to see that they included the use of an open-ended question at the end of the survey, asking for specific feedback about improvement, but I do think that the wording should be different. I feel that the question itself is vague, as “improvements” could mean different things to different patients. Possibly, the question should also be split into two different questions, one asking about improvements to services, and another asking if there were any additional services that the patient would like to see offered. Also, the survey should not wait until the end to tell a patient that their responses will be confidential; they should state that at the beginning of the survey. After reading and critiquing this survey, I would be curious to see what types of responses that it gained from the patients that it was given to. To me, it was very confusing, and though it had a purpose, that purpose was not clear at the outset of the survey. It took reading it to gain an understanding of what they wanted, which is not how a survey should read. Again, the level of the survey was much too technical in terms of reading level for the average person. I would suggest a complete overhaul and rewrite of the survey, in conjunction with several different hospital departments, so that the overall format of the survey is easier to understand, and patients could have better clarity and continuity of questions. Read More