Five Truths About What Matters in Experience Excellence

by Jason A. Wolf, PhD., CPXP

What are myths and what power do they hold over healthcare today? In a recent paper from The Beryl Institute and journal article in Patient Experience Journal , a visionary team of physician leaders posed a powerful and reflective challenge to all of us who choose healthcare as the place we commit our careers.

Myths in essence are popular beliefs or accepted traditions that create ripples of shared understanding we hold. They can be either incredibly inspiring and uplifting or they can often shadow our perspectives. In either case they influence our actions and behaviors. That is what the authors challenged us to consider, how we reframe myths around experience (specifically for physicians) in a call to action for how we can step forward as stronger champions for the human experience in healthcare.

While the paper and article were focused on the role physicians play, I’d like to offer reflections on the lessons these papers offered that we can all consider in addressing experience regardless of role. In doing so here are five additional truths about what matters in experience excellence and some action questions we can all consider in moving forward with purposeful action.

Every interaction matters.

Every individual is critical to the experience people have. As specifically stated in the definition of experience, experience is the sum of ALL interactions. The interactions patients have with their clinical staff, their nurses and physicians, are critical. AND the reality is that when we realize that experience is not about just surveys, but the personal engagement people have human being to human being, no one person is a tangential player in the experience of a patient and their care partners. As every interaction matters, so does every person in them.

• Action question: How will you find those moments to connect with the people you serve and be a critical player in the experience they have?

An integrated perspective matters.

Experience encompasses safe, quality outcomes and every person must be powerful champions for experience overall. Patients and their care partners do not distinguish between quality, safety and the service they receive. Each is a slice of the experience pie we provide and in fact it is the quality and safety that they experience most. But what patients want just as much as the safe outcomes is to be communicated to in ways they can understand, to be listened to, and cared for with respect. These actions do not require extra steps or significant time. They are also not “soft,” but rather they are essential, they are sought after, they are at the heart of healthcare excellence itself.

• Action question: How will you use the skills of a human being caring for another human being to ensure comprehensive and compassionate outcomes for those you serve?

Data and the stories they tell matter.

The data we collect are more than just scores or sample sizes, they reflect the stories of people, the collective hopes, insights, and opportunities that emerge when we provide care. First, if we purely see experience as the results we receive on a survey we are already bound to fail. I do not choose that word lightly and I state it with great caution. Experience is by its very nature more than just survey data points. It is the sum of all interactions and may be reflected in some part by the questions we ask. At the same time, we run a similar risk if we discount the data we collect via surveys. The data tell a story about who we serve, they are not just percentiles, but pulses, and as such are equally a critical piece of the experience puzzle. Much as in diagnosing a patient, we do not simply make judgments based on one symptom alone, but rather on a comprehensive picture framed through data, observation, and input from the patient.

• Action Question. How will you use the data and stories collected on your own efforts – the stories from those you care for – to inform, improve and impact the care you provide and help you continuously learn and improve for those who come next?

How we communicate matters.

If we see healthcare as primarily human beings caring for human beings than communication skills are not only essential, but they are also a primary conduit to ensuring excellence in care overall. As noted above, patients and healthcare consumers year after year in data from around the world reaffirm the humanness they seek at the heart of healthcare – communicate to me in ways I can understand, listen to me. This underlines that how people communicate in healthcare, how we communicate to patients and one another, is core to care delivery. So as much as we work to ensure excellence and maintenance of our clinical knowledge, skills, and muscle, so too is it imperative that that skills and muscles for effective communication be consistently developed and supported.

• Action Question. How will you commit to developing, sustaining, and expanding your communication skills and maintaining this critical muscle in support of achieving the best possible outcomes for your patients?

Our humanity matters.

Taking the time to be human and show compassion is not “extra” time, it is an essential practice at the heart of care. Taking a moment to express compassion, to answer a question, to explain an issue, to introduce yourself to family members or care partners in the room, to ask people how they are, and then to listen, are not outside the scope of quality medicine, but the cornerstone on which it is built. “Being” present for the person you care for isn’t about “doing” at all. It is about all we chose to engage in healthcare for – to care for another human being in mind, body, heart, and soul. And in doing so we gift ourselves a recharge in purpose as well. In giving of ourselves, we gain as much and maybe more.

• Action Question. How will you find moments to engage with empathy and compassion with your patients, with your peers, and with yourself and in what ways will you use those moments to inspire you forward?

A commitment to experience is about standing up for truths above myths, for elevating purpose beyond just protocols and process, and it is about giving of yourself as a human in healthcare. I am sure we can add many more items to the list I shared and I’d encourage and invite you to do so in the comments below. At the same time if we can begin with intention, ask ourselves some critical questions and then be willing to act, then we will all be helping to turn myths into truths and purpose into power, in our shared commitment to transform the human experience in healthcare. We together can write healthcare’s story, through the choices we make, the actions we take, and a commitment to addressing what truly matters.