At a Glance

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Dr. Shaun Fitzgerald, Pediatric Hospitalist

at a major healthcare organization in

the San Francisco Bay Area, specializes

in the care of children in the ER, ICU,

and inpatient wards. Fitzgerald also

contributes as an educator to the

organization’s residents and interns. In the

medical field where people’s lives are at

stake, it’s more critical than ever to gather

and respond to feedback quickly and

effectively.

Fitzgerald started using SurveyMonkey

to get valuable information in medical

school. Noticing that the wait times for

the administration of antibiotics in the

Situation

• The ER and pediatric hospital wished to

improve the rapid delivery of antibiotics

to its pediatric patients with special

medical needs

• Pediatric patients in academic medical

centers often have a large team of

attending staff, likely causing confusion

to parents and children

Survey Results

• Some of the less common antibiotics

weren’t regularly kept in stock in high

quantities, increasing the time from

order to delivery

• Parents expressed their uncertainty

of the roles and responsibilities of the

physicians, interns, nurses, and residents

Smarter Decisions

• After making the antibiotics more

readily available, the ER was able to

quickly deliver antibiotics to pediatric

patients

• Staff put up a poster in the patient’s

room showing the team members along

with a description of their roles

“Understanding and responding

to the needs of students, patients,

and staff is essential in my role as a

physician and educator. I’ve relied on

SurveyMonkey as a tool for feedback

since my medical training days in

Boston and Worcester, and I continue

to use it for a host of healthcare and

education projects.”

– Dr. Shaun Fitzgerald, Pediatric Hospitalist

Advancing healthcare with the power of surveys

DR. SHAUN FITZGERALDPediatric Hospitalist

Healthcare Feedback Case Study

ER could be improved, Fitzgerald sent a

survey to assess the delivery of antibiotics

and where efficiencies could be improved.

The results revealed that some of the less

commonly used antibiotics for children

with special medical needs weren’t typically

stocked in the ER, increasing the time

between the ordering and administration

of the medication. “By asking the staff,

we were able to identify which antibiotics

and patients were associated with the

longer wait times, and arrange to have the

medications more readily available in the

ER,” says Fitzgerald.

In another situation, the medical center staff

sent surveys to parents of pediatric patients.

In academic medical centers, it’s common for

a patient to have a large team of physicians,

interns, nurses, and residents. Survey results

showed that parents were often confused

with who’s in charge, who’s overseeing

care, and the roles of interns and residents.

As a result, staff decided to create posters

showing the pictures of the team members

along with a description of their roles.

Now that Fitzgerald teaches physicians-

in-training, he uses surveys for all kinds

of education planning. Lecture feedback

surveys highlighted that rather than having

lectures in the mornings and afternoons,

students prefer one longer class session.

“We learned that residents would rather

condense their teaching sessions and have

an entire four-hour block of lectures while

being relieved of clinical responsibilities,”

says Fitzgerald. “We are working to change

our lecture schedule to accommodate

our residents’ educational wishes while

concurrently assuring the meticulous care of

our patients.”

Learn more about how SurveyMonkey can

help your healthcare organization make

smarter decisions.

Visit surveymonkey.com/healthcare today.

Visit surveymonkey.com/healthcare today

How did surveys help you in your healthcare organization?

Thanks to advances in medical

technologies, children with

previously untreatable diseases are

thankfully living longer, but often

require hospitalization. That has led

toan increase in the number and

complexity of patients we see on

a daily basis. A survey of residents

showed their wish for further

teaching in real time. As a result, we

increased the number of attending

physicians to provide on-the-spot

teaching to correlate textbook

knowledge with real-life situations

in the moment.

– Dr. Shaun Fitzgerald, Pediatric Hospitalist