UKMi User Survey Guidance

The UKMi user survey is a validated tool, designed to obtain enquirers’ opinions of the service they receive when they contact Medicines Information with an enquiry. The questionnaire has been structured to be succinct, easy to complete and analyse,and incorporates issues that were determined to be most important to enquirers in preliminary research. It is available in two formats, one to download and print off, and the other for electronic use.

Whilst this version of the questionnaire has been approved by UKMi, it is acknowledged that some centres may wish to adapt it for local use.

It is essential that the process is not treated as a ‘paper exercise’. Data obtained will assist in ensuring Medicines Information Centres meet the requirements of their users, and provide a high-quality, patient-centred enquiry answering service. Positive results will provide a valuable endorsement for the service, whilst any negative results can be used to identify areas that require improvement/investment.

Recommended Sample Size

The user survey should be conducted continually throughout the year (at least every other month) in order to pick up any variations in service provision in a timely manner. The number of questionnaires should reflect the number of enquiries answered/month (see below)

Number of relevant enquiries answered/month / % of enquiries surveyed / No. of questionnaires sent out every month
0-100 / 5% / 1 - 5
100-200 / 4% / 4 - 8
200-400 / 3% / 6 - 12
400+ / 2% / 12

Notes on interpretation of the survey

The user survey is designed to provide a positive or negative opinion on a number of aspects of service provision. Each questionnaire returned should be individually evaluated in a timely manner.

A negative result on any question,or any negative commentsshould provoke review of the enquiry involved. Any identified areas for concern should be addressed to minimise the risk of problems recurring. It may be appropriate to notify the enquirer of any remedial action taken to assure them that their concerns are taken seriously. If it is possiblethe enquirer felt the enquiry was not dealt with adequately at the outset, it may also be beneficial to offer follow-up assistance. It would also be valuable to follow up any user survey response which rates the overall service as 4 out of 6, or lower.

Notes on recording & evaluating returned surveys

You may wish to collate the results obtained from the user survey in a running log,to better highlight any particular strengths or weaknesses of the service. An editable spreadsheet (instructions for use below) is provided on the UKMi website for this purpose. Its also generates results in graph form to display results over a given time period, for reporting purposes. The average score for the ‘overall rating of the service’ is useful to give an approximate representation of enquirer satisfaction of the service, and will be used for audit purposes. It is also useful to record enquirers’ comments, which may help provide support for the MI service.

N.B. If you intend to conduct the user survey frequently e.g. on a monthly basis, it may be beneficial to keep a record of recipients for each month, so as not to ‘over saturate’ frequent users of the service with questionnaires.

Instructions for Use of Electronic User Survey

The user survey has been created so that it can be completed and returned electronically.

You will first need to download the user survey and save this to a memorable place and in the format of your office program.

For users of Microsoft Office 2003

  • First complete Steps 1 – 3 (this only needs to be completed once)
  1. Open the document in the version of Word that you normally use.
  2. Display the ‘Forms’ toolbar following the directions below:
  1. Now click on the padlock at the right hand side to unprotect the form.
  • For each user survey, follow Steps 4 – 6:
  1. Enter the enquiry number and summary (title) that this user survey relates to. You can also add any additional information as necessary, e.g. in the footer.
  2. Click the Padlock sign again to protect the form.
  3. You can then Save the amended document to a memorable place and give it a unique filename, e.g. survey number

For users of Microsoft Office 2007 onwards

  • First complete Steps 1 – 9(this only needs to be completed once):
  1. Open the document in the version of Word that you normally use.
  2. Click on the Office Button(big round button, top left corner).
  3. At the bottom of this drop down menu click on Word Options.
  4. Select Customise.
  5. Click on Popular Commands and from the drop down menu select Developer Tab.
  6. Scroll down and click on Restricted Formatting and Editing so it is highlighted.
  7. Click Add> so that Restricted Formatting and Editing appears in the right hand column. Then click OK.
  • For each user survey, follow Steps 8 – 13:
  1. Above the usual Word menu options you should now see Restrict Formatting and Editing – tick the box next to this menu option.
  2. A menu will appear on the right hand side of the page:
  3. Click on the button (bottom right of page) Stop Protection.
  4. Tick the box next to Limit formatting to a selection of styles.
  5. Tick the box next to Allow only this type of editing in the document and select Filling in forms from the drop down menu.
  6. Enter the enquiry number and summary (title) that this user survey relates to. You can also add any additional information as necessary, e.g. in the footer.
  7. Once you have made your changes, click on the button Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.
  8. A window will then appear asking for a password. Ignore this request and click OK.
  9. You can then Save the amended document to a memorable place and give it a unique filename, e.g. survey number

If at any time you need to go back and amend your changes, click Stop Protection. Once you have completed any amendments,clickYes, Start Enforcing Protection.

The amended user survey can then be attached to an email to the enquirer with some suitable wording. Some suggested wording including the process that needs to be followed to ensure that the user survey is returned correctly is provided on the next page.

Subject: Medicines Information
Dear [insert enquirer’s name]
Thank you for recently using your local medicines information service.
Please find attached a questionnaire which will evaluate the service we provide to you and determine whether your needs are being fully met.
The questionnaire involves 10 questions and should take 2 to 3 minutes to complete.
  1. Please open the attached document.
  2. Use the drop-down menu to answer each question.
  3. Additional comments can be made at the bottom of the page.
  4. Save the document to a memorable place and in the format of your office program, then close the document.
  5. Attach the saved document to an email to [insert the email address you would like the completed user survey form sent]
Thank you for your co-operation.

Instructions for Use of Spreadsheet

The spreadsheet is divided into different sections:

  • Coding Definitions
  • Individual Months
  • Charts (for each question asked in the survey)
  • Response Rate

How to use

  • Enter the enquiry number, title and the user’s responses to each question (using the codes from the ‘Coding Definitions’ page) for every returned survey into the relevant individual month worksheet.

Some examples:

  • If a user responds ‘Not enough’ to question 7, enter the number 5 into the relevant section.
  • If a user answers ‘Yes’ to question 9, enter the number 1 into the relevant section.

Note that these numbers are not weighted scores but are used for coding purposes only.

  • The last two columns in each Individual Month worksheet are for the overall score and any comments that the user has given in their returned survey.
  • In the first column of each Individual Month worksheet, enter a ‘1’ for each returned survey.
  • At the bottom of each Individual Month worksheet, enter the number of surveys sent. The number of surveys returned will automatically be updated dependent on the number of 1s entered into the first column.
  • The response rate (%) for that month will also automatically be updated.

The Charts will automatically be updated based on the data entered in the Input worksheet.

The Response Rate worksheet calculates this for each month based on the data entered into each Individual Month spreadsheet.

N.B. Figures have already been entered into this spreadsheet for illustration purposes. These can be deleted and replaced with your own figures.

Date of Issue: April 2012

Review Date: April 2014

Version Number: 1.0

This version adapted by:Jonathan Hall & Mark Cheeseman(Signed)

This version approved by: (Name)(Signed)

Date:

Template Approved by: UKMi Clinical Governance Working Group