Best questions for patient survey about medication understanding

Here are some of the best questions for a patient survey about medication understanding, plus tips on crafting them for richer feedback. You can build a survey like this in seconds with Specific.

Best open-ended questions for patient survey about medication understanding

Open-ended questions invite patients to share their stories and details you might never anticipate. They're ideal when you want rich, qualitative insights―not just "yes" or "no" answers. These questions uncover individual experiences, reveal barriers, and spotlight misunderstandings that you can’t see through checkboxes alone.

• They allow patients to explain misunderstandings in their own words.

• They highlight areas of confusion or anxiety regarding medication use.

Why does this matter? A staggering 46% of patients misinterpret one or more dosing instructions, and 56% misunderstand at least one auxiliary warning.[1] The more you hear directly from patients, the clearer those blind spots become.

1. Can you describe your current understanding of how you should take your medication?

2. Have you ever felt unsure about when or how to take your medication? Please share an example.

3. What information about your medication do you wish was explained better?

4. How do you keep track of your medication schedule, and have you encountered any challenges with it?

5. Can you recall a time when the medication label or instructions were confusing? What was confusing about them?

6. What concerns or questions do you still have about your medication?

7. Has anyone explained what to do if you miss a dose? How do you feel about that explanation?

8. Are there any terms or instructions on your prescription labels that you find difficult to understand?

9. How confident do you feel about managing your medications on your own? Why?

10. What, if anything, could your healthcare provider do differently to help you understand your medications better?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for patient survey about medication understanding

Single-select multiple-choice questions are ideal for quantifying experiences or nudging a silent respondent into the conversation. Sometimes, picking from a list is a softer entry point than an open text box—especially when patients aren’t sure what to say. This approach lets you gather structured data, easily analyze trends, and use follow-up prompts to go deeper when needed.

Question: How confident are you in understanding your medication instructions?

• Very confident

• Somewhat confident

• Not confident

Question: Have you ever had trouble understanding when to take your medication?

• Yes

• No

• Not sure

Question: What aspect of your medication instructions is most confusing?

• Dose amount

• Timing or frequency

• Purpose of medication

• Side effects

• Other

When to followup with "why?" If a patient selects "Not confident" or "Yes," always add “why?” Asking this opens the door to specific stories: “Why did you feel unclear about the timing?” The answer often uncovers misunderstandings like, “I thought ‘every six hours’ meant only when I’m awake.” In fact, research found that 77% of patients misinterpret dosing instructions when schedules mention hours instead of daily frequency, leading to major misunderstandings. [2]

When and why to add the "Other" choice? “Other” should be used when you suspect your provided answers might not cover every scenario. Follow up to ask for details when someone selects "Other"—you’ll often find novel problems or rare pain points you wouldn’t have known to look for. Unexpected issues uncovered this way have been tied to 38.6% of patients misunderstanding prescription labels.[3]

NPS question: Measuring satisfaction with medication understanding support

NPS (Net Promoter Score) isn’t just for customer loyalty. In healthcare, it’s a proven way to gauge whether patients feel supported and informed—especially about critical topics like medication instructions. By asking, “On a scale from 0–10, how likely are you to recommend your healthcare provider for explaining medications clearly?” you capture a fast, quantifiable sentiment metric.

• It creates a simple, memorable number for tracking progress over time.

• Pair an NPS score with “why did you select that score?” for powerful feedback.

Try this with our NPS survey for patients about medication understanding.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions transform a survey into an actual conversation—and make your insights much richer. We dive deeper into this and the smart automations in our article about automated followup questions.

• Automated follow-ups allow the AI to clarify, drill down, and catch context as an expert would.

• This prevents jargon, misunderstandings, or generic responses from slipping through.

• Specific’s AI asks tailored follow-ups on the fly, so you don’t need to chase patients via email or phone, saving substantial time.

Here’s what happens without effective follow-up:

• Patient: “I take my meds at night.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you tell me what time at night you usually take your medication?”

Without the follow-up, we’d know nothing about actual dosing behavior. The follow-up brings context that can reveal whether a misunderstanding exists—especially knowing that auxiliary instructions are misunderstood by over half of all patients.[1]

How many followups to ask? 2–3 is usually the sweet spot for getting enough context, while avoiding survey fatigue. Allow respondents to skip to the next question if they’ve already provided what you need—Specific lets you configure this easily.

This makes it a conversational survey—the back-and-forth feels like a chat, which respondents often find both friendlier and easier to complete.

AI survey response analysis: Even if you’re collecting entire stories in open-ended answers, AI can quickly group and summarize all the text responses, surfacing trends and summarizing patient feedback for fast review. This makes qualitative feedback as actionable as quantitative data.

Automated AI-powered follow-ups are a game changer. Give it a try: generate a survey and see the conversational flow for yourself.

How to prompt ChatGPT (or other AI) to generate better patient survey questions

You don’t need to be a survey expert to generate great questions—just be clear with your prompts. Here’s a starting point:

Ask for a basic list:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Patient survey about Medication Understanding.

But you’ll get even better results if you give more background, such as your patients’ demographics or your specific learning goals. Here’s how to improve your prompt:

I’m writing a survey for patients aged 60+ with chronic conditions, aiming to understand how well they follow complex medication instructions and where they need more support. Suggest 10 open-ended questions tailored to this group.

Next, organize your questions:

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

Once you have useful categories, double down where it matters:

Generate 10 questions for categories like “misunderstandings about timing” and “side effect concerns.”

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys mimic a real dialogue. Instead of rigid lists, they use AI to adapt each question and follow-up based on respondents’ answers. For patient surveys on medication understanding, this means fewer misunderstandings and richer, more honest responses compared to old-school forms.

Here’s a comparison to highlight the difference:

Why use AI for patient surveys? AI survey makers bring out honest, nuanced insights by making it easy for patients to say what they really mean—even when talking about complex topics like medication understanding. You can see an AI survey example for this topic using our survey generator with medication understanding preset, or simply start from scratch on our AI survey builder.

Specific is regarded as a leader in conversational surveys, with an interface that’s smooth for both creators and respondents. Whether you’re using our AI survey editor or learning how to create a patient survey about medication understanding, it’s all designed to help people open up and answer honestly, naturally, and with context.

See this medication understanding survey example now

Experience an effortless way to collect clear, rich insights from patients—powered by smart follow-ups and instant analysis—so you can understand and address medication confusion confidently and fast.