Best questions for patient survey about communication with doctors

Here are some of the best questions for a patient survey about communication with doctors, plus practical tips for creating them. If you want to get instant, expert-quality surveys, you can easily generate your own with Specific—we make patient surveys fast and effective.

Best open-ended questions for patient survey about communication with doctors

Open-ended questions shine when your goal is to truly understand the patient perspective. They invite stories, surface unmet needs, and enrich your feedback far beyond what ratings alone reveal. Research consistently shows that the quality of doctor-patient communication has a direct impact on satisfaction and outcomes [1]. Here are our top picks for open-ended questions:

1. Can you describe your last conversation with your doctor? What stood out to you?

2. How comfortable do you feel asking your doctor questions or expressing concerns?

3. What helps you feel understood and heard during your visits?

4. Was there a time your doctor explained something particularly well? Please share.

5. Are there ways your doctor could improve how they communicate with you?

6. Can you tell me about a time when you felt unsure or confused after a visit?

7. How does your doctor make you feel involved in your healthcare decisions?

8. What information or resources would make conversations with your doctor easier?

9. Do you ever leave an appointment with unanswered questions? Why?

10. What one change would make communication with your doctor more effective for you?

If you want to go deeper, Specific’s AI survey builder can generate, organize, and polish these questions automatically. Patients who experience clear communication are far more likely to understand and follow their care plan, which leads to measurable improvements in satisfaction and health outcomes[2]. That’s why open-ended questions are so valuable—they capture concrete stories and actionable insights.

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for patient survey about communication with doctors

Sometimes, the right multiple-choice question really moves things forward. They’re best when you want to quantify experiences or lower the barrier for feedback—some patients find it easier to pick a quick option rather than compose a detailed answer. Multiple-choice questions also help identify patterns and follow up in more depth where needed.

Question: How easy is it for you to understand your doctor’s explanations?

• Very easy

• Somewhat easy

• Somewhat difficult

• Very difficult

Question: How respected do you feel by your doctor during conversations?

• Always

• Usually

• Sometimes

• Never

Question: What is your biggest challenge when communicating with your doctor?

• Medical jargon

• Not enough time

• Hard to ask questions

• Other

When to follow up with "why?” After a multiple-choice answer, adding a follow-up like “Why do you feel this way?” or “Can you give an example?” can move beyond the surface, giving context and clarity. For instance, if a patient says “Somewhat difficult” to understanding explanations, a simple “Could you share what made it difficult?” transforms a data point into a story you can act on.

When and why to add the “Other” choice? Include “Other” when your options may not cover every situation or you want to uncover surprising pain points. A follow-up on “Other” (like “Could you describe your challenge?”) often surfaces feedback you wouldn’t think to ask about, expanding your understanding in a meaningful way.

NPS-type question for patient communication surveys

NPS, or Net Promoter Score, measures how likely someone is to recommend their doctor (or clinic) to others—a yardstick for loyalty and satisfaction. It’s especially helpful here: communication is the top driver of whether people trust and endorse their provider, according to research[1]. Ask: “On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend your doctor to friends or family, based on your communication experience?” Follow up based on the score to get actionable feedback from promoters, passives, and detractors. You can instantly build an NPS survey pre-designed for this topic.

The power of follow-up questions

Open-ended and single-select questions are just the start—follow-up questions are where the richest insights emerge. We built a deep-dive on automated follow-up questions that explains how Specific’s AI can clarify, expand, or gently challenge any answer in real time, like a skilled interviewer.

Specific automatically asks smart, relevant follow-ups based on how each patient responds. This isn’t generic branching: the AI listens and adapts to the context, probing gently for examples, clarifications, or deeper needs. These conversational follow-ups save massive amounts of time compared to manual chasing via email.

• Patient: "I didn’t really get what my doctor meant last time."

• AI follow-up: "Could you share which part was confusing, or what would have helped?”

• Patient: "It’s usually fine."

• AI follow-up: "Could you tell me about a time when communication was especially effective or not?”

How many follow-ups to ask? For most surveys, 2-3 well-targeted follow-ups capture the full story without tiring respondents. The bonus: Specific lets you set the number of follow-ups, and it knows when to move on once it’s got what you need—no wasted effort, no dead-ends.

This makes it a conversational survey: Each exchange feels like a real dialogue—not a cold form or checklist.

Easy response analysis & unstructured insights: Analyzing all this rich text could be overwhelming, but with AI-assisted survey analysis, it’s a breeze. We summarize, categorize, and chat with your qualitative data, so you learn faster, even from lengthy or complex answers.

It’s a fresh approach—try creating a survey to see the impact of conversational follow-ups in action, and see how much deeper your patient feedback can go.

Using ChatGPT (or other GPTs) to generate better patient survey questions

If you’re brainstorming survey questions for communication with doctors, AI tools like ChatGPT can do a lot of the heavy lifting. Start simple:

To get generic ideas, use:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Patient survey about Communication With Doctors.

For better results, always add your context—describe the target patients, your goals, and any known challenges. Example:

I’m building a survey for elderly patients to understand their experience talking with doctors at our clinic. They might face language barriers or need extra support. Suggest the best open-ended questions to surface communication gaps and actionable improvements.

Now, organize those ideas by theme with:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

If you spot a theme (like “doctor’s listening skills” or “clarity of explanations”) you want to deep dive, try:

Generate 10 questions for the category “clarity of explanations”.

This process, along with the AI survey generator from Specific, unlocks strong patient surveys in minutes—not hours.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey feels like a chat, not a cold list of questions. Patients answer in their own words, and the AI guides them with natural, context-aware follow-ups. The difference is striking—not just in response rates, but in the depth and honesty of feedback. Here’s a quick comparison:

Why use AI for patient surveys? The gap between how doctors think they communicate and how patients feel is huge—one study found 75% of doctors believed they communicated well, but only 21% of patients agreed[3]. An AI survey example using conversational logic can bridge that gap by surfacing needs, misunderstandings, and stories that would otherwise be lost.

Specific offers the most advanced, user-friendly conversational survey builder—designed to make feedback engaging for both patients and teams collecting it. If you want a step-by-step walk-through, check our how-to guide on creating patient surveys about communication with doctors.

See this communication with doctors survey example now

Unlock a smarter way to understand patient-doctor communication—see actionable survey examples and discover how AI-driven, conversational surveys can capture insights traditional methods miss. Dive in to experience game-changing patient feedback today with Specific.