Changing Myths into Truths: Dispelling Physician Misconceptions on Patient Experience

Patient experience work can be viewed by some physicians as outside their scope of practice and therefore the responsibility of non-medical providers. Assumptions may also be made by providers about what patient experience work is and is not. These myths can make it difficult to pursue meaningful patient experience related work that is in fact rooted in evidence showing improved outcomes. Moreover, these myths can downplay the importance of patient experience improvement work discouraging physicians who may be interested from pursuing it. In order to combat common myths that can be propagated about patient experience, the authors will cite research to dispel commonly held beliefs and instead convert them into truths that demonstrate patient experience work truly is essential to healthcare organizations and should be pursued by clinicians as part of their non-clinical work.