Discharge questions that show how ready patients felt to go home
Ask patients about their stay, from nursing care and food to the discharge instructions and who to call afterward. Each question below comes with when to ask it and what the answer tells you.
What hospital stay and discharge questions tell you
Hospital stay and discharge survey questions ask patients about the parts of a stay they can judge for themselves: the nursing care, the cleanliness and the food, how clearly someone explained what happens next, and whether they went home knowing who to call. A stay can go well on the ward and still end in confusion on the day of discharge, and the first days at home show it.
Ask three to five days after the patient gets home, once the questions about going home have come up. Send the survey by email from your discharge list or hand over a card with a QR code as patients leave, and pick five or six questions. Keep every question about the stay and the handover: Usertick doesn't sign business associate agreements, so ask patients to leave out conditions, treatment and medication.
Each written answer is read as it arrives and given a category, a theme, a sentiment and an urgency, so a patient who still has no number to call reaches the discharge team ahead of a comment about the food.
- Questions
- 13
- Best asked
- Three to five days after going home
- Industry
- Healthcare
- Where to find them
- From library in the Usertick survey editor, on every plan
The 13 hospital stay and discharge questions, with when to ask each
Grouped by what they tell you. Use them as they are or change the wording.
The stay on the ward
Start with one rating, then the parts of the stay patients judge for themselves, from nursing care to the food.
- 01Stars
How would you rate your hospital stay?
A star rating for the whole stay. Put it first, so a patient who stops early still leaves a score; Results shows the average and the share who rated 4 or higher.
- 12NPS
How likely are you to recommend the hospital?
The Net Promoter Score for the hospital. Results shows the score, the split of detractors, passives and promoters and the score per device, for a figure you can report each quarter.
- 02Matrix
Rate the hospital on each
Rates nursing care, doctors, cleanliness and food in one grid. The heat map shows which part pulls the stay rating down, and the row averages let you follow each one month by month.
- 13Matrix
Rate your stay
The same four areas as the earlier grid, in a different order. Use one of the two grids in a survey, since asking both makes patients rate the same things twice.
- 09Yes / No
Was pain managed well?
A yes or no on comfort during the stay. Select No in Results to filter the page to those patients and read how they rated nursing care and the discharge.
- 05Ruler
How many days were you in the hospital?
Length of stay in days, on a ruler up to 30. Results shows the median and the middle half; read it next to the ratings to see whether longer stays rate the ward differently.
Explanations before discharge
These questions show whether someone owned the explanation and whether patients left knowing who to call.
- 06Multiple choice
Who explained your treatment to you?
Who explained the treatment, with Nobody clearly as an option. A rising share of Nobody clearly or Several people tells you the handover between staff needs one named person.
- 03Yes / No
Did you understand your discharge instructions?
Asks whether the discharge instructions made sense. A No here is worth a call from the ward, so give those answers an owner in the inbox and call the patient back.
- 04Yes / No
Do you know who to call with questions?
A yes or no on knowing who to call. Results shows the share that said yes; anything well short of everyone means the contact number needs a clearer place in the discharge pack.
The first days at home
Ask how ready patients felt and what they missed once home, so the discharge pack improves with every month of answers.
- 08Big scale
How prepared did you feel to go home?
How ready the patient felt to leave, from 1 to 10. Results shows the average and a column per step; read the low scores with the open question to find what was missing.
- 10Emoji
How did you feel on the day you left?
How the patient felt on the day of discharge, on a row of faces. Sad faces next to a high stay rating point to the discharge day itself.
- 07Text
What questions came up after you left?
An open question for what came up at home. Add a placeholder asking patients to leave out medical details, and read the themes to see which parts of the discharge pack need a clearer explanation.
- 11Multiple choice
What would have helped after discharge?
Lets patients tick every kind of help they missed, from a follow up call to transportation. Results shows a bar per option, which helps you choose what to add to discharge first.
Tips for asking about hospital stay and discharge
Small choices that get honest, useful answers.
- 01
Ask once patients are home
Send the survey three to five days after discharge. By then patients know which instructions were clear and which questions came up.
- 02
Use one rating grid
Pick one of the two grids for nursing care, doctors, cleanliness and food, and keep the rest of the survey short.
- 03
Keep health details out
Usertick doesn't sign business associate agreements, so ask about the stay and the handover, never conditions or treatment. Add a line to each open question asking patients to leave out medical details.
- 04
Call back the unsure
Give every No on discharge instructions or who to call an owner in the inbox, and have the ward call that patient back.
Add these questions to a survey
From the library to the first answers.
- 1
Open the library
In the Usertick survey editor, choose From library, filter by industry and topic, and add several questions at once.
- 2
Or paste your own list
Paste questions reads up to 10 questions from any text on Free, 100 on Starter and 200 on Pro and above, keeps your wording and picks an answer type for each.
- 3
Choose where it runs
Show the survey on your website, send it by email, share its link and QR code, or switch it to a conversation.
- 4
Read the answers
Results counts every score and choice, and Usertick reads each written answer and files it by topic, on every plan.
Templates and more questions about hospital stay and discharge
Full surveys that ask about the same things, and neighboring topics in the library.
Templates
Browse all templatesFrequently asked questions
Three to five days after the patient goes home. Usertick sends to a contact list now or on a date up to 30 days ahead, so send in daily batches from your discharge list.
The patient, or the relative who took them home. Reword a question where it helps, so a relative answering on a patient's behalf knows which experience to describe.
Five or six. Pick the rating, one grid, the two questions on instructions and who to call, and the open question.
They can, with a QR code at the bedside, but the discharge questions read better once patients are home. Ask about the ward on the day and save the discharge questions for a later email.
Yes. The question library comes with every plan, the free plan included, and the free plan covers 150 responses a month across your surveys.
Yes. Once a question is in your survey, reword it, change its options or its answer type, and add logic to skip it for some answers.
Yes. The library is translated into Usertick's built-in languages, and in any other language it shows in English for you to translate.
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