Hospitals often use surveys as a weapon to attack hospital-based groups. No matter who runs the survey, they are prone to error, misuse and out right abuse.
In fact over the last three decades, I’ve never seen a medical staff survey that wasn’t defective. Querying all of the psychiatrists on staff about the quality of the anesthesia department is, well, crazy.
But, since hospitals love surveys, they are a good tool for you to start sponsoring yourself. Query your patients, query referring physicians and even query hospital staff.
Of course, the survey has to be designed properly. Consider also that the scope of the questions doesn’t have to relate simply to the services provided by your group – it might also inquire as to the level of services provided by other physicians and by the hospital itself.
The beauty of this type of survey is that you control whether the results are released. It’s a bit like creating evidence, only favorable evidence, to support your case.
