Patients who are unhappy with their caregiver or their schedule of visits may not be comfortable sharing this information directly with their caregiver. Calling the patient at this point not only identifies emerging needs but also establishes rapport between the patient and the agency office. Although telephone surveys can be an effective data collection method, they have some shortcomings. Another method of collecting client feedback is a written questionnaire. The two basic types are existing questionnaires and questionnaires developed for a specific purpose.
Many questionnaires assess client satisfaction related to medical or health care.
It offers the advantages of having established reliability and validity. However, although using an existing questionnaire has numerous advantages, gathering specific information of interest to a particular agency may require the development of a new questionnaire. There are also significant disadvantages to using a written survey. For example, some clients may be unable to read or write. Written surveys offer no opportunity for clarification of a specific item.