Improving the Customer Experience: Physician Feedback Program for Clinical Laboratories

Abstract

Context.— Clinician feedback is an important source of information for laboratory quality improvement programs. Objective.— To pilot a program for nearly real-time solicitation and analysis of physician feedback regarding clinical laboratory services. Design.— Laboratories distributed either electronic or paper survey forms to physicians. Results were tabulated by College of American Pathologists staff. Free-text comments were shared promptly with the participating laboratories to facilitate follow-up. Results.— Forty-seven clinical laboratories participated in the study and submitted results for 987 physician surveys, including both paper and electronic forms. Of 694 responses submitted electronically within the study period, 460 (66.3%) included at least 1 free-text entry, for a total of 951 free-text comments. Conclusions.— Point-of-service solicitation of physician feedback regarding clinical laboratory services is feasible and can provide a substantial quantity of potentially useful information regarding laboratory performance from the customer perspective.