Survey background

The Alberta Emergency Department Patient Experience Survey collects feedback from a sample of people who recently visited one of Alberta’s 16 busiest emergency departments. The survey is conducted over the telephone, and the results help monitor patient experience over time and identify opportunities to improve the quality, safety, and performance of emergency care.

We survey patients who received care from the following sites:

Did you receive a phone call to complete the survey?

Why you should participate

Your experience can help improve emergency department care for other Albertans.

Health Quality Alberta invites feedback from patients who have experienced emergency care for different reasons and at different times. Because only a selected number of people are invited to participate, each response provides valuable information about what is working well and where improvements may be needed. 

How to verify that the call is legitimate

If you are selected to be surveyed, you will receive a call from: 780.784.0129.

If you have questions about the survey or want to verify the survey process before participating, contact Health Quality Alberta:

Email: Emerg.Dept.Survey@hqa.ca
Toll-free: 1.855.508.8162

Who is Prairie Research Associates (PRA)

Prairie Research Associates (PRA) is a research company contracted by Health Quality Alberta to conduct this survey. PRA is required by Health Quality Alberta to adhere to the requirements of Alberta’s Health Information Act and the Protection of Privacy Act to conduct this survey.

Completing the survey

How long does the survey take?

The telephone survey takes approximately 10–15 minutes.

Is participation voluntary?

Yes. Participation is completely voluntary. Choosing not to participate will not affect any care a patient receives now or in the future.

Can someone complete the survey on behalf of another patient or family member?

No. The survey is designed to collect the experience of the patient who received emergency department care and is not designed for proxy respondents.

It is not designed for another person to answer on behalf of a patient—for example, a relative answering for someone who has dementia or who is otherwise unable to complete the survey themselves. For the pediatric survey, parents or guardians are specifically asked about their experience obtaining care for their child.

Can a parent or guardian participate in the survey?

For the pediatric survey, the survey asks parents or guardians about their experience when they visited an Alberta emergency department to obtain care for their child.

Parents and guardians can involve their child in answering the survey questions as much or as little as they feel is appropriate.

Can a child complete the survey independently?

The pediatric survey is focused on the parent or guardian’s experience of obtaining emergency department care for their child. It is therefore not designed for the child to complete independently.

Survey results

How is the information used?

Survey responses are analyzed with responses from other patients and used to monitor patient experience and inform quality improvement in Alberta emergency departments.

Where can I see the results?

Results are publicly reported quarterly through Health Quality Alberta’s FOCUS on Healthcare website.

Privacy

Will my responses be confidential?

Yes. Results are reported in aggregate and anonymized. Individual patients cannot be identified in publicly reported results.

How will my privacy be protected?

Health Quality Alberta is a custodian under Alberta’s Health Information Act (HIA) and is responsible for protecting the information it collects. Information from the survey is kept confidential. Public reports contain aggregate, anonymized results and are not intended to identify individual patients.