Anonymous vs. Onymous Surveys For Senior and Long-Term Care

Onymous: Adj: “Bearing a name.”


Many Senior and Long-term care companies believe that for customer satisfaction interviews to be effective, they need to be done anonymously. Their logic is based on that idea that anonymity is the only way to provide an avenue where people can provide objective feedback about what they really think and feel without fear of retribution or punishment. This may work in some industries, but as you know, Senior and Long-term care is not like The Gap, it isn't like a Lexus dealership, and it is not like a restaurant. In fact, it is not like any other industry.


With 14 years experience providing services exclusively to Senior and Long-term care companies, we have found that not only do people give very candid feedback when providing their name in the survey, but they actually PREFER including their name with feedback. We give each resident and family member we interview the very clear, specific option of being anonymous. And after interviewing tens of thousands of individuals, ninety-eight percent choose willingly to provide their name to the interview, or to give their opinion "onymously".


Why are they so eager to attach their name to their feedback? There are several reasons:

1. The long-term care of the individual being interviewed, or that of their loved one, is one of the most important things they have ever dealt with in their lives. With something that important, they WANT to provide insight; they want their voice identified. 
2. Enabling them to attach their name allows individual needs to be met. For example, if a resident has specific dietary needs following a needed surgery, attaching their name allows not only the patient specific care, but the chance for the resident to feel like they are being cared for as an individual. This increases loyalty, and fosters a better image in the community.
3. It provides a forum of dialog for the family and/or resident—which can diffuse any potential issues from arising, instead of allowing them to fester and become serious problems or complaints. It is far better to hear the issue out in the open directly from the resident or family than from an ombudsman or attorney. Open communication is always best.
4. It allows them to feel heard. The most frequent comment we receive is, “Thank you for giving me a chance to have a voice here.”

These reasons provide resident-side benefits to the feedback not being anonymous. There are also several facility-side benefits to onymous feedback:

1. It allows the administration to address any issues far more quickly and effectively. Every so often, our interviews uncover an isolated complaint within the 2% of those preferring to be anonymous. We send the reports to the administrator, who will inevitably turn to us and ask, “How can I correct this, if I don’t know who it is?” Having a specific complaint without a name attached slows down the correction of the issue, whereas having a name attached allows for immediate correction to the care provided.
2. It allows the facility to truly give individual-based care. The current movement in Skilled Nursing is to go through a culture change in the direction of “individual based care” or “resident based care.” When you are looking at a report with names of individuals attached, individual or resident-based care really can begin.

We provide high quality insight to health-care companies into all aspects of their care their patient or resident experience. Through "onymous" feedback, we give these Long-term and Senior Care companies a pure form of feedback and a direct communication link back to the important individuals they serve.


For more information on how to set up interviews for your facility, contact one of our customer satisfaction specialists at Pinnacle Quality Insight, at (801) 293-0700.


--Craig Christiansen
www.pinnacleqi.com