Surveying Patients About Primary Care Experience

What are your patients thinking? Are their needs being met? What could physicians and their team do differently?

Stethoscope shaped as a heart | Surveying patients about primary care experience

We developed our Primary Care Patient Experience survey with patients, specifically for Alberta’s primary care physicians and their teams.

Family physicians receive feedback that is:

  • Standardized: Compare your results with peers across the province.
  • Actionable: Identify quality improvement opportunities and capture Alberta Health’s updated patient experience indicator (Schedule B).
  • Credible: Trust a survey that has been rigorously tested by more than 10,000 patients, and leveraged by hundreds of clinics since 2018.

Topics that matter to your patients

With approximately 25 questions, this survey covers a range of topics that allow you to identify opportunities for improvement and reflect on what’s working well, including:

  • Overall rating
  • Communication
  • Access
  • The primary care team
  • Patient characteristics
  • Optional survey modules include questions on: Treatment plans, care priorities, the EQ-5D-5L measures on health status, as well as additional patient characteristics.

“It’s important to highlight the support the HQCA provides
in implementing and administering this survey in primary care across Alberta,
minimizing the time and resources primary care clinics need to do this critical work.”

Dr. Maria J. Santana is provincial director, Patient Engagement for the Alberta Strategy for Patient-oriented Research.

Sign up today

Family physicians, clinics or PCNs can sign-up with the HQCA so that their patients can participate in the survey. The survey takes about 10-15 minutes for patients to complete.



Download resources

Resources for care providers and clinics currently participating in the survey
FAQ to share with your patients
This is a handout you can print and provide to patients at your clinic who have questions about the survey.
Delegate Access Form to involve team members
Practice facilitators and other primary care team members can request access to their provider's report by filling out this form.
Resources to help you to act on your survey findings
Quick Wins guide
This guide provides checklists, tools, and other options that are relatively quick and easy to implement.
Deeper Dives guide
This guide provides a more in-depth exploration of strategies to improve patient experience.
Background reading guide
This guide provides links to papers and literature that explain the evidence and value of improving primary care patient experience.
Resources for care providers and clinics considering a survey
Sample Report
This report shows you what you’ll receive when your clinic conducts its survey.
Fact Sheet: Primary Care Patient Experience Survey
This handout provides an overview of the survey with details on the questions we ask.
Fact Sheet: Physician Practice Improvement Program
Learn how you can use this survey to support your Physician Practice Improvement Program (PPIP).
Provider story
See how one Alberta physician and his patients benefit from the survey.