Patient survey about advance care planning

We all know how difficult it is to create an effective Patient Advance Care Planning survey that actually gets answers you can use. That's why we let you generate a survey with AI—instantly, right here. Try it yourself with a click of a button and see the difference with Specific.

Why Patient advance care planning surveys matter

Let’s be honest: most of us don’t like thinking or talking about end-of-life care, but the cost of ignoring these conversations is high. For example, only about 30% of Americans have advance directives—legal documents that specify their preferences for care if they’re unable to communicate [1]. That means the vast majority of decisions are made without truly knowing what patients want.

If you’re not running thoughtful Patient Advance Care Planning surveys, you’re missing:

• Vital patient feedback to help healthcare teams align care with an individual’s values.

• Opportunities to educate, since, in some surveys, only 13.5% of patients even recognize what advance care planning is [3].

• A simple way to understand barriers: Why do patients hesitate to document care wishes, and how can we help them?

• Documentation gaps: In high-income countries, fewer than 40% of people have completed any advance directive [5].

Missing these insights means missing chances to improve outcomes, reduce family stress, and offer care that respects every patient’s wishes. Specific equips you to bridge those gaps and begin a meaningful, data-driven conversation with patients. If you want to dig deeper into the types of questions that work best, check our guide on the best survey questions for advance care planning with patients.

Why use an AI survey generator for Patient surveys?

Let’s talk about why using an AI survey generator for Patient Advance Care Planning is a game-changer compared to building surveys by hand. Traditional survey-making is slow, repetitive, and easy to get wrong—especially if you don’t have time to become a survey design expert or review multiple templates.

Specific offers the best-in-class experience for both you and your patients. Instead of a cold, impersonal survey, patients get a friendly chat that asks smart follow-ups, making it easier to share what matters. And you get more reliable feedback, without spending hours setting everything up. Want to know how to make this work for your context? Read our article on how to create a Patient Advance Care Planning survey step-by-step.

Expert question design: actionable, not ambiguous

You want survey questions that actually tell you what you need to know. Let’s compare:

• Bad survey question: “Do you want us to consider your wishes for future healthcare?” (Too broad, leading to vague yes/no replies.)

• Good survey question: “Can you tell us about a time when you thought about the kind of care you’d want in the future? What factors mattered most?”

With Specific, our AI survey generator avoids vague or loaded questions. It uses current best practices (informed by real research) to generate questions that dig deeper, drive actionable feedback, and stay sensitive to patient concerns. Want your questions to be strong on their own? Here’s a quick tip: Always ask open-ended questions that invite specific examples or feelings, not just yes/no answers. If you need more guidance, try our AI survey editor or check the full list of recommended questions for Patient Advance Care Planning surveys.

Automatic follow-up questions based on previous reply

Specific’s AI doesn’t stop at your first question—it listens and responds, just like a skilled interviewer. If a response is unclear or superficial, the AI asks a smart follow-up right there, in real time. That means you always get the full context without having to chase people up via email or phone.

• Patient: “I’m not sure I need to plan ahead.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share what makes you feel that way? Have you had any experiences that influence your outlook on planning?”

• Patient: “I guess my family and I haven't talked about it much.”

• AI follow-up: “Would you be open to discussing your preferences with them, or are there challenges that make this hard?”

If you don’t ask these follow-ups, replies can get lost in vague statements—meaning you lose the opportunity to learn what your patients need. Want to see how this feels? Click and try generating your own survey, and see how automatic AI follow-up questions can elevate your process. Learn more about this feature here.

These follow-ups make your survey a real, two-way conversation. That’s what makes it a conversational survey.

Survey delivery: landing page or in-app—your choice

Reaching patients in the right place is just as important as asking the right questions. With Specific, you can deliver your Advance Care Planning survey using:

• Sharable landing page surveys: Perfect for clinics, research teams, or care organizations who want to share a survey link by email, SMS, in a newsletter, or even printed QR codes. Patients can participate whenever and wherever works for them.

• In-product surveys: Ideal if you already have a patient portal, EMR system, or telehealth app. Trigger the survey at just the right moment (e.g., after an appointment or when discussing forms) to make participation seamless and immediate.

Since advance care planning is often discussed outside typical appointments, the sharable landing page method is especially popular—just send a link and let patients respond privately. Of course, in-product is unbeatable for ongoing engagement if you have your own app.

Instant analysis with AI survey analysis

Don’t spend days sifting through answers. With AI survey analysis in Specific, you get instant summaries of every patient’s response, automatic detection of key topics and barriers, and even the ability to chat directly with AI about your survey results. You’ll never need to manage spreadsheets or worry about missing patterns in your Advance Care Planning feedback. Our guide to analyzing Patient Advance Care Planning survey responses with AI covers everything you can do with these automated survey insights.

Create your Advance Care Planning survey now

Click to generate an expert-designed, conversational Patient Advance Care Planning survey with AI—in seconds. Get richer insights faster and empower your care team to make a real difference for every patient.