Quality Improvement Report: Pulse Surveys for Departmental Engagement—Finding the Pebble in Your Shoe

Surveys are a key tool to identify problems, assess employee satisfaction, and guide quality improvement. Micropolling is a technique that uses short-form surveys that are sent more frequently than are traditional long-form surveys. This approach aims to collect longitudinal data with good engagement to better understand an individual practice environment. The authors developed a micropoll initiative within a single radiology institution with questions that targeted employee wellness and departmental priorities. Micropolls were sent at scheduled intervals via email to all radiology trainees and faculty. All data and anonymous comments were compiled and provided to the department chair to monitor the workplace environment and guide departmental initiatives. Thirteen pulse surveys were sent bimonthly over a 6-month period to 127 faculty and 62 trainees. Engagement was initially low, with an average of 11 faculty responses to the multiple-choice questions in surveys one to three. In later surveys, engagement increased to an average response rate of 35 for surveys six to 10. Engagement with trainees remained low and somewhat sporadic throughout the survey period, with seven trainees responding weekly on average. Engagement was higher with selection-based questions and decreased with free-text responses. After a short transition period, the periodic pulse survey became a successful way to gather data throughout the department, particularly among faculty. An appeal of this micropolling methodology is the repetition of questions at different time points to see trends in the department and measure responses to specific interventions or initiatives. ^©RSNA, 2026.