COVID-19 and Patient Anxiety: Top 5 Concerns
It’s not uncommon for patients visiting the doctor to experience anxiety related to their symptoms, diagnosis, or treatment. The spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has introduced a new type of anxiety for many patients: the fear of exposure to the virus. Many Americans are even avoiding medical care due to fear of contracting the virus in a healthcare setting.
Using SurveyVitals’ comment sentiment analysis and keyword search, we reviewed patient comments specific to COVID-19 procedures in office-based practices. We identified the top five patient concerns related to fear of clinical contamination. Taking steps to address these concerns may increase your patients’ comfort level with your care.
Top 5 Patient Concerns
#1: Visitor Screening
Screening patients and visitors prior to entry may look different from one practice to the next. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has published recommendations for screening patients for COVID-19 symptoms and risk potential.
This screening at the building entrance gives peace of mind for patients who worry they will come in contact with someone infected with COVID-19. It is important to have a triaging process in place so patients can feel at ease in your facility.
#2: Shared Items
Patients are particularly apprehensive about handling shared items such as pens, clipboards, or tablets. Whenever possible, offer the option for patients to fill out paperwork online prior to their visit.
For patients who do need to fill out forms onsite, disinfect pens and clipboards after each use. Consider having a clearly-labeled ‘clean’ set of pens and clipboards for patients to use.
In the waiting room, remove magazines and toys. If wifi is available, post the login information so patients can use their phones while they wait.
#3: Waiting Room Distancing
Many patients express discomfort with their proximity to other people in the waiting room. The CDC guidelines for clinic COVID-19 preparedness specify that waiting rooms should be set up to allow for six feet of distance between patients. Use signs to designate seating as off-limits, or remove chairs from the waiting room to provide adequate social distancing.
For check-in and check-out, place markers on the floor for patients to stand on to maintain six feet of distance.
If social distancing is not feasible in your waiting room, consider having patients wait in their cars or in a designated outdoor waiting area. If possible, you may also set up partitions inside.
#4: Face Masks
The CDC has published recommendations regarding personal protective equipment (PPE) for clinicians and symptomatic patients. However, required use of masks by all staff (both clinical and office) as well as patients and visitors is important in reducing patient anxiety about COVID-19 exposure.
If masks are required at your facility, make the policy known when scheduling the appointment and again with any reminders sent to the patient.
Sometimes patients can have difficulty with understanding their provider or another staff member due to mask use. Before removing your mask, view this article on communicating effectively while following COVID-19 prevention procedures.
#5: Offering Supplies
It’s crucial to offer hand sanitizer and tissues, and to ensure patients can easily access trash cans and soap at sinks. Patients without access to these supplies are likely to experience anxiety about contamination, especially if they have had to handle shared items such as pens, or if they’ve had to touch door handles or equipment.
SurveyVitals Study of Patient Views on COVID-19
Since March 2020, SurveyVitals has surveyed over 100,000 patients to capture public sentiment regarding COVID-19. View the ongoing study here and sign up for a demo today to learn how you can take part while collecting valuable feedback about the patient experience in your organization.
blake July 23rd, 2020 Categories: Best Practices, COVID-19, featured, Outpatient Practice
Tags: Best Practice, covid-19, Improvement, outpatient, patient comments, patient experience, Patient feedback, Patient SatisfactionNew Features: Telehealth Survey and Updated Survey Interface
The SurveyVitals solution is continuously evolving to fit our users’ unique needs–healthcare organizations of all sizes and specialties. Improvements and new developments to the online reporting patient experience platform come as a result of direct input and asks from clients.
Our newly released telehealth survey solution makes it easy for practices providing both in-person visits and audio/visual offerings to understand and measure what might feel like a new experience. Additionally, the patient survey interface has been optimized to improve user experience. To learn more about these releases, read below or contact your SurveyVitals account manager.
Interested in learning more about SurveyVitals? Request more information here.
Telehealth Survey
Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, more healthcare organizations are offering virtual visits than ever before to reduce the risk of exposure to patients and staff. To help our clients adapt, we developed the Telehealth Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (TPSQ).
The telehealth survey features 12 questions about the patient experience with virtual visits within your healthcare organization. These questions cover scheduling the visit, logging on, provider communication and interactions, and willingness to recommend.
The telehealth survey easily adapts to your workflow. Organizations offering both in-person and telehealth visits can upload a single patient list for both visit types, so no additional work is needed after survey setup is complete.
Updated Survey Interface
Our new digital survey interface was designed to improve the user experience for patients while taking the survey. The update ensures a consistent experience and furthers patient accessibility. Over 90% of SurveyVitals digital surveys are completed on mobile devices.
If you are interested in enabling the telehealth survey for your organization or have questions about the updated survey interface, reach out to your SurveyVitals Account Manager or contact us using the blue chat icon at the bottom of the screen.
blake June 16th, 2020 Categories: COVID-19, featured, Outpatient Practice, Patient Experience
Tags: benchmarks, Improvement, New Feature, New Functionality, outpatient, patient experience, Patient feedback, Patient Satisfaction, Surveys, telehealthNew Feature: SPSQ Low Score Comment Prompts
Better understand patient concerns with our low-score survey logic, now included on our Standard Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (SPSQ). When patients select a score of a ‘1’ or ‘2’ on the five-point Likert scale for any standard survey question, they will be prompted to leave a comment describing their experience in that area.
The long-term use of this feature on our Anesthesia Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (APSQ2) has been effective in helping providers to better understand trends and improvement opportunities in specific areas. These prompts encourage patients to include details about a specific part of their experience, providing deeper insights than often gained with generalized comment prompts at the end of a survey. Please note, there will be no change to the existing SPSQ comment questions with the addition of the low score prompts.
To gain even more insight from your patient feedback, use our sentiment analysis tool to review patient low score comments. This will help you to identify the most critical feedback quickly.
Have questions about this new feature or the SPSQ survey? Chat with us using the blue chat icon below, or reach out to your client account manager. Interested in learning more about SurveyVitals? Request a demo of the solution here.
blake December 16th, 2019 Categories: featured, Outpatient Practice, Patient Experience, Product Features
Tags: Improvement, low score, New Feature, New Functionality, notifications, outpatient, patient comments, patient experience, Patient feedback, Patient Satisfaction, reportingPublic Review Just Got Better! Boost Your Google Business Reviews with this New Feature
Nearly 90 percent of patients look to online reviews when choosing a physician, so increasing a positive presence online is more important than ever.
SurveyVitals’ Public Review feature helped healthcare providers and organizations proactively build their online reputation and improve their search rank in 2019. The feature drives verified patients to leave public reviews about their experiences on a page hosted by SurveyVitals and indexed by Google, allowing prospective patients to find you more easily online.
Since its launch this year, over 200,000 verified patients have posted online ratings using Public Review, and 98% of those reviews scored 4 out of 5 stars or higher. Using our composite scoring algorithm ensures patients’ public star ratings are more reflective of their visit, rather than a single aspect of their experience.
Public Review is an important tool that allows healthcare organizations and providers to build a brand on the web. However, we also want to help get you more positive reviews where they matter the most. Google accounts for 57.5% of all online reviews worldwide, far superseding other online review platforms. If you have only a handful of Google reviews, a one- or two-star rating can drag your overall rating down.
Public Review + GoogleWe’ve enhanced our Public Review feature to give you a two-pronged approach to building your online reputation. The newest expansion of the tool allows you to better incorporate your Google Business pages into your SEO strategy. Use Public Review to boost your volume of reviews by driving a percentage of your verified patients to your Google Business review pages.
Setup is quick and easy. Add your Google Business review link to your Public Review settings within your SurveyVitals portal, and specify a percentage of your patients to route directly to this page upon completion of a survey. You can link to the Google Business reviews page for the whole organization or separate pages for each of your practice locations.
That’s it! To schedule a demo or learn more, chat with us using the blue chat icon below.
blake December 13th, 2019 Categories: featured, Patient Experience, Product Features, Reputation Management
Tags: google, New Feature, New Functionality, online ratings, online reputation, online reviews, patient experience, Patient feedback, Patient Satisfaction, Public Review, Surveys10 Million Surveys!
Together with our clients, we reached 10 million surveys in the SurveyVitals comparative benchmark. Thank you for helping us achieve this incredible milestone!
With over 16,000 clinicians across 85 specialties utilizing SurveyVitals at over 3,500 locations, we are excited to watch this benchmark continue to grow. Your partnership and each interaction with your patients strengthens the solution and continues to fuel our mission to improve care and the experiences of patients across the country every day.
Ten million surveys comes on the heels of several new feature releases in 2019. Check them out here:
Report BuilderUpgrades to our custom reporting tool increased its speed and ability to analyze higher volumes of data, and introduced more comparison options, diverse filtering, and deeper comment analysis.
Sentiment AnalysisUsing a machine learning algorithm, the new sentiment analysis feature measures the overall tone of text comments to help identify the most positive and negative feedback. The addition of sentiment analysis made it easier and faster for users to gain deeper insights from hundreds and even thousands of comments.
Improvement CenterWe launched the Improvement Center in our client portal to aid providers in targeting improvement in the areas where it is needed most. The Improvement Center houses over 120 short videos and articles organized by question group.
Provider Performance by LocationEnhancements to the Location & Provider Details tool optimized how organization and division-level users capture provider performance. The Provider Scorecard breaks down each provider’s performance across multiple locations, making comparison of individual performance at one location versus another fast and easy.
We look forward to continuing to enhance and grow our solution as we work toward the next 10 million surveys!
blake November 25th, 2019 Categories: featured, Patient Experience
Tags: Improvement, patient experience, Patient feedback, Patient Satisfaction, Portal, reporting, SurveysProvider Spotlight: Tina Eide, MD, Matrix Anesthesia
Tina Eide, a board certified anesthesiologist from Matrix Anesthesia, was one of the winners of our recent Patient Experience Week giveaway. We asked Tina about the best practices she follows to provide exceptional patient care, and we’re excited to share her responses.
Tina studied medicine at the University of Washington and trained at Virginia Mason Medical Center. Her primary areas of work interest include regional anesthesia, neuroanesthesia, lifestyle/behavior, and anti-aging medicine.
What best practices do you and the staff you work with follow that you attribute to your positive scores?
Tina Eide: [The] Overtake Hospital pre-operative setting includes private rooms for each patient, so interviews can be conducted with a closed door, and a quiet environment. This is instrumental in developing patient trust, explaining anesthetic choices, and creating a safe space for patients to voice anxieties or fears. Also, the pre-op nurses are excellent and gather information ahead of the anesthesiologist meeting the patient, so we don’t have to be entirely reiterative.
I always try to ask several specific questions about a patient. By knowing a few personal details, I can often begin talking about a familiar topic that helps put the patient at ease. I’ve even gotten three patients to sing for me recently!
Finally, I always offer my first name after I’ve introduced myself as Doctor Eide. I give my patient the choice of which to call me, and most prefer calling me Dr. Tina or just Tina. I am able to communicate through this that I am a professional but I am also a human.
What is one example of how you improved your relationship with your patients and/or the care you provide?
Tina Eide: When I first began, I was hesitant to explain all the risks that are inherent to anesthesia with patients. I felt this information might burden them or raise their anxiety prior to surgery. As I grew as a doctor and learned from my patients, I realized that patients are entitled to know the specifics of the care they will receive while under anesthesia. Some patients will decline a total explanation, and this is just fine. Other patients want to know each event that will occur and the possible up and downsides.
I learned that if I was upfront and explicit about the risk discussion, patients were extremely appreciative and their trust in me grew as well.
How do you best use your SurveyVitals data for your own personal improvement?
Tina Eide: I look for the specific comments that patients make about their experiences. Often we only hear general feedback like “great job” but when people relay a certain moment that touched them, or a particular action I did that helped them feel at ease, I am able to repeat that going forward.
I also accept any critical feedback with an open mind and heart. As a doctor, I hold myself to an exceptionally high standard to ‘do no harm’ which can sometimes translate in my mind as ‘make no mistakes.’ Clearly, as a human being, I have to accept that I will make a mistake now and again. If I can hear the critical feedback well enough to learn from it, however, I see it as a growth opportunity rather than something negative.
blake September 16th, 2019 Categories: Anesthesia, Best Practices, Client Spotlight, featured, Patient Experience
Tags: anesthesia, anesthesiologist, Best Practice, Improvement, Our Clients, patient comments, patient experience, Patient feedback, Patient SatisfactionSurveys You Might Not Know SurveyVitals Offers
SurveyVitals’ digital patient experience surveys help you gain a deeper understanding of your performance with immediate patient feedback. Did you know our solution includes many more surveys at no additional cost to help drive improvement from every angle of your practice?
1. Point of Care
Our Point of Care tool allows you to address patient concerns on the spot before the leave your facility. The survey is sent to patients on their own devices while they’re still onsite, giving you the opportunity to resolve concerns in real-time.
2. Outcomes Surveys
Global Surgical Outcomes Survey (GSOS)The GSOS survey is sent to surgical patients post-visit to collect feedback about the recovery experience. GSOS works in sync with the Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) model and ERAS guidelines to identify gaps in care and spot opportunities to improve outcomes.
Emergency Medicine Outcomes Survey (EMOS)The EMOS survey is sent to patients following an Emergency Department visit. It collects patient feedback related to understanding the recovery plan and accessibility to follow-up care.
3. 360° Surveys
As a part of our 360° solution, we offer a variety of internal and stakeholder surveys to help you better understand the perceptions of employees, peers, surgeons, physicians, and third party groups who work with your organization.
Employee SatisfactionThe Employee Satisfaction survey collects feedback to help increase teamwork, reduce turnover, and keep your teams motivated. The survey assesses individual employee perceptions about the organization, professional interactions, performance, job duties, and more.
Peer-to-PeerThe Peer-to-Peer survey aims to increase accountability and awareness of workplace conflict. Employees rate their peers in a number of areas including attitude, communication, competency, responsibility, teamwork, and timeliness.
Physician SatisfactionIntended to prevent physician burnout, the Physician Satisfaction survey gathers insights from physicians about their quality of life in the workplace. Drive positive change with candid feedback from your physicians in a number of areas.
Referring PhysicianMaximize your referral opportunities with the Referring Physician survey. Receive feedback from referring physicians on reports, recommendations, and interpretations they receive.
Anesthesiologist Surgeon SatisfactionThe Anesthesiologist Surgeon Satisfaction Questionnaire gathers important input from surgeons who work alongside anesthesia providers. This survey gives anesthesia providers valuable insights to strengthen relationships and increase safety and efficiency.
Third Party Group EvaluationEnhance your third party relationships with feedback from your hospital and facility partners about your care, safety, responsiveness, clinical competency, cost efficiency, support, and more.
4. CAHPS
SurveyVitals is certified by CMS to administer nine different CAHPS surveys. The transition to value-based care has made CAHPS surveys mandatory for many facilities. The CAHPS surveys we offer are:
- Accountable Care Organization CAHPS (ACO CAHPS)
- CAHPS for MIPS
- Clinician & Group CAHPS (CG CAHPS)
- Home Health Care CAHPS (HH CAHPS)
- Hospice CAHPS
- Hospital CAHPS (HCAHPS)
- In-Center Hemodialysis CAHPS (ICH CAHPS)
- Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery CAHPS (OAS CAHPS)
- Patient-Centered Medical Home CAHPS (PCMH CAHPS)
Note: There may be an additional cost to administer CAHPS surveys.
Questions?
Have questions about the SurveyVitals solution or any of the surveys we offer? Reach out to us today at support@surveyvitals.com or contact us using the blue chat icon below.
blake August 28th, 2019 Categories: Anesthesia, CAHPS Surveys, Emergency Medicine, featured, Outpatient Practice, Patient Experience
Tags: anesthesia, Improvement, outpatient, patient experience, Patient feedback, Patient Satisfaction, Physician Satisfaction, point of care, SurveysProvider Spotlight: Clint Allred, CRNA, Anesthesia Associates of Boise
Clint Allred, a full-time CRNA for Anesthesia Associates of Boise, was the grand prize winner of our recent Patient Experience Week giveaway. He is performing in the top 25% of anesthesia providers nationally. We asked Clint about his best practices for providing exceptional patient care, and we’re excited to share his responses.
Clint completed his nursing education at Weber State University in 2006, and then attended the University of Tennessee for CRNA training. He has been practicing in Boise since 2011.
What best practices do you and the staff you work with follow that you attribute to your positive scores?
Clint Allred: There is a huge push in our profession to unite with our surgeon colleagues and work toward “enhanced recovery after surgery ” protocols. We have known that there are a lot of different ways to manage the anesthetic of a patient, and each patient requires a different anesthetic. The downside to this is the fact that everyone does something different so the continuity of care is sometimes lacking.
To correct this discrepancy, we created a quality committee within our group. This committee was tasked with reviewing literature along with some of the bigger medical institutes, and then sitting down with anesthesia providers from within our group and developing some protocols for the surgeries that we provide routinely. This initiative at least put all of us on the same page to start with. These protocols deal not only with the patient during surgery, but also some interventions before surgery to improve their outcomes. Since installing these protocols, it has been incredible to see the patient, surgeon, and nurse satisfaction elevate. Every anesthetic still needs to be tailored just right, but this has really helped us be proactive in our decision prep.
What is one example of how you improved your relationship with your patients and/or the care you provide?
Clint Allred: It has amazed me how a little bit of effort goes a long way in ensuring comfort for our patients. It can be something as simple as a warm blanket in the cold metal OR, or talking with the patient on their level trying to take time to explain things.
One thing that we have instituted is in our pediatric population. The inhalational anesthetics that we use have a pungent smell. Kids really hate inhaling that odorous gas. So, we bought a bunch of Lip Smacker chapsticks and then bring the mask to the kids and let them pick out a flavor. They paint the inside of the mask with the flavor they selected and it negates that bad smell when the mask is on their face. Little things like these efforts don’t really take a cumbersome amount of time or energy. They just require a little effort and can really improve the relationship with patients.
What is one thing you avoid doing in order to provide a better experience for your patients?
Clint Allred: The biggest thing I have had to make a conscious effort to try and avoid is just going through the motions with my patients preoperatively. I have always taken pride in the quality of anesthesia care that I provide, but I realized when my son had surgery, that I really needed to change my approach to patients before they even have anesthesia. The day of surgery for patients is an overwhelming experience. Even before you get to the surgery and recovery phase, so much is thrown at them. I found that because administering anesthesia is a routine part of my life, I was just doing the bare minimum to educate and put my patients at ease. We would then whisk them away and go provide anesthesia. My experience taught me that taking an extra five minutes to sit down and talk with the patients about what they were going to experience, both for them and their family members, went a long way to easing their anxiety.
How do you best use your SurveyVitals data for your own personal improvement?
Clint Allred: SurveyVitals definitely serves as a reminder to keep those goals and changes, instituted in my own personal practice, in the forefront of my mind daily. Obviously, I won’t make everyone happy all the time. I used to just shrug my shoulders and act like it didn’t matter. However, what I did find is that when I changed my attitudes and practice – all of a sudden the SurveyVitals data meant something to me. It is a way to drive and improve my practice. I still won’t make every patient happy all the time, but I can take pride in my work and raise the bar for my patients.
blake August 6th, 2019 Categories: Anesthesia, Best Practices, Client Spotlight, featured, Patient Experience
Tags: anesthesia, Best Practice, CRNA, Improvement, patient experience, Patient feedback, Patient Satisfaction, QualityUnderstand Patient Needs with Sentiment Analysis
SurveyVitals has long helped our clients gain a better understanding of patient comments with semantic keyword analysis. With the release of our new Report Builder, we’re taking comment analysis to the next level with sentiment reporting.
A recent review of SurveyVitals data showed that 36% of patients leave at least one comment when responding to our digital surveys. In a March 2019 patient experience study conducted by NEJM Catalyst Insights Council, 97% of clinicians agreed that listening to a patient’s voice helps improve care. Patient comments give context to Likert-scale scores, helping to bring the data to life.
Comments are vital to understanding your patients’ needs, but reading through hundreds–or even thousands–of them can be time-consuming. SurveyVitals is excited to introduce our new sentiment analysis tool to help you gain deeper, faster insights.
How does it work?Our sentiment analysis uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithm to provide tonal or sentiment insights for text comments. The sentiment process, provided by Amazon Web Services, measures how positive, neutral, mixed, or negative a full comment is. Unlike semantic keyword analysis, sentiment measures the overall tone of the comment–for example, it looks for negation keywords such as ‘not’ in conjunction with emotional keywords for a better understanding (e.g., ‘The doctor made me not feel so afraid’).
Identifying the most critical feedback has never been easier. The ability to sort by positive, negative, mixed, and neutral sentiment scores allows for quick identification of the best and worst comments. Sorting by these scores or searching keywords may also be beneficial in reviewing comments for trends and prevailing concerns.
Sentiment analysis saves you time, drives awareness, and helps you to better understand your data and implement change.
Have questions or feedback about sentiment analysis? Reach out via the blue chat icon below or contact a member of your support team today.
blake June 25th, 2019 Categories: featured, Patient Experience, Product Features
Tags: comment analysis, comments, keyword, patient experience, Patient feedback, reporting, semantic, sentimentRecent Posts
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Hope McCain February 17th, 2021 Categories: Best Practices, COVID-19, featured, Outpatient Practice, Patient Experience, Telehealth
Tags: best practices, office-based, outpatient, patient comments, patient experience, Patient feedback, Patient Satisfaction, telehealth, virtual care, virtual visits, wait times