Best questions for patient survey about trust in provider

Here are some of the best questions for a patient survey about trust in provider, plus tips on designing them. If you want to build a high-quality survey fast, you can generate a tailored survey with Specific in seconds.

Best open-ended questions for patient survey about trust in provider

Open-ended questions unlock detailed, honest feedback from patients. They help uncover experiences and motivations that simple choices can't capture. Use them when you want rich stories and context—and to truly understand trust and its roots.

Here are the 10 best open-ended questions to include in a patient trust survey:

1. Can you describe a recent interaction with your healthcare provider that made you feel either more or less trustful of them?

2. What does “trust” in your provider mean to you personally?

3. Have there been moments when you doubted your provider’s recommendations? What led to those doubts?

4. How does your provider communicate important health information with you? Do you feel heard and understood?

5. Is there anything your provider does that builds your confidence in their care?

6. What, if anything, has hurt your ability to trust your provider?

7. Describe a time when your provider helped resolve a concern or question you had. How did that impact your trust?

8. How comfortable do you feel about sharing personal information with your provider? Why or why not?

9. What changes—big or small—would make you trust your provider more?

10. Can you share how your trust in your provider affects your decisions about following their advice?

Open-ended feedback is invaluable—trust is subjective and deeply personal. Done right, these questions surface real stories. For instance, a meta-analysis of 47 studies found that trust in healthcare professionals has a meaningful impact on patient health outcomes, and patients’ own sense of subjective health is even more strongly tied to trust. [1]

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for patient trust surveys

Multiple-choice (single-select) questions are perfect for capturing quick input, quantifying sentiment, or warming up respondents. Patients often appreciate having a set of clear options—especially if they’re pressed for time. These questions provide structure, help you measure trends, and let respondents ease into more personal feedback.

Question: How much do you trust your healthcare provider to act in your best interest?

• Complete trust

• Somewhat trust

• Neutral

• Somewhat distrust

• No trust at all

• Other

Question: Which aspect impacts your trust in your provider the most?

• Clear communication

• Medical expertise

• Empathy and attentiveness

• Respect for my preferences

• Follow-up care

• Other

Question: How likely are you to recommend your provider to friends or family based on trust alone?

• Very likely

• Somewhat likely

• Neutral

• Unlikely

• Very unlikely

When to follow up with "why?" The best time to ask “why?” is after a surprising or ambiguous choice. For example, if a patient selects “Somewhat trust,” a follow-up like “Can you share what holds you back from full trust?” helps uncover specific concerns—improving your understanding and giving patients a chance to elaborate.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always add “Other” when respondents might have experiences not covered by your options. Following up on “Other” uncovers new themes—sometimes the things you didn’t know to ask become your next major insight.

Having these clear, structured options makes it easier to spot trends. It’s worth noting that, according to a 2023 Statista survey, trust in providers varies by age group—79% of Americans over 65 reported trusting their healthcare providers, compared to just 67% of those aged 30 to 49. [2] So it’s wise to combine these choices with demographics to drill deeper.

Should you use NPS for trust in provider?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a classic question format: “How likely are you to recommend [provider] to a friend or family member?” It’s favored for its single, predictive score, but it’s also powerful for measuring trust because patients rarely recommend providers they don’t trust. When you need a high-level metric to track over time, NPS fits the bill.

The best way to apply it for trust: combine the NPS rating with a “Why did you choose this score?” follow-up. This captures both the overall trust sentiment and the reasons behind it. If you want to see how this works in action, try the NPS survey builder for trust in provider.

A focus on both NPS and open-ended questions gives you a full view. In fact, 86% of patients are more likely to return to a provider who delivers a positive experience—highlighting the tangible business value of high trust and satisfaction. [4]

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions are the real magic in a conversational AI survey. By probing each answer, we uncover why patients feel the way they do—and get actionable details, not just headlines. Automated follow-ups make this quick and reliable, saving teams from chasing clarification via email or phone calls.

Specific’s AI asks smart, contextual follow-up questions in real time. Instead of scripted replies, it adapts on the fly to what the patient actually said. This delivers richer, more relevant insights. Here’s what happens if you don’t follow up:

• Patient: “I’m not sure I trust my provider’s advice.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you describe what made you feel unsure or hesitant about their advice?”

This transforms a vague response into actionable feedback you can use now.

How many followups to ask? Ideally, 2–3 follow-ups get the depth you want, while letting patients move on once they’ve fully explained. With Specific, you can set the intensity—more if you need richer stories, less if you want brevity.

This makes it a conversational survey: The back-and-forth feels natural. Respondents engage more and share more honestly because it’s not a cold form—it’s a real conversation.

Easy AI-powered analysis: After collecting responses, AI makes analyzing all that unstructured text easy—see how in our article on AI survey response analysis. You can summarize, extract key themes, and even chat with your data, saving hours of manual work.

These automated follow-up questions are a game-changer. If you haven’t tried this before, generate your own survey—and experience the difference for yourself.

Prompting AI to write better trust-in-provider survey questions

Want to let ChatGPT or another AI generate strong survey questions? Here’s a starting prompt to use:

Ask for a list of open-ended questions:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for patient survey about trust in provider.

AI always delivers better results if you provide context. Include your role, goals, and a brief description:

I'm a hospital administrator preparing a survey to measure trust in provider among patients ages 18+. We want to identify pain points, satisfaction drivers, and communication issues. Suggest 10 open-ended questions.

Group and organize for clarity:

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

Zoom in on specifics by category:

Generate 10 questions for the “communication with provider” and “personal experiences” categories.

Prompts like these, plus AI’s rapid iteration, make it easy to craft, improve, and personalize your survey—saving tons of time.

What is a conversational survey (and why use AI for trust-in-provider feedback)?

Conversational surveys are chat-based surveys that use AI to ask questions and real-time follow-ups. Unlike static forms, they adapt to previous responses, making the exchange more natural and engaging. Here’s how automated survey creation compares to traditional methods:

Why use AI for patient surveys? AI survey tools—especially conversational survey makers—are fast, flexible, and extract far richer feedback than manual forms. By automatically probing ambiguous responses and adapting tone to patients’ needs, they can build trust throughout the survey. If you’re interested in a step-by-step guide, see our article on how to create a patient trust survey.

Specific delivers a best-in-class experience for launching conversational surveys. This makes both survey creators’ and respondents’ experience smooth, natural, and genuinely engaging—the best way to get to the truth behind patient trust.

See this trust in provider survey example now

Check out a real-life patient trust conversational survey to experience how easy it is to uncover actionable insights, make better decisions, and build real understanding—instantly.