A Physician's Perspective: Why Focusing on the Patient Experience is Critical
The focus on “experience” in healthcare is not about smile campaigns or making patients happy in the face of illness. It's about fundamental change, for the sake of patients and healthcare providers alike.
The Problem with Modern Healthcare
Advances in the science and practice of healthcare over the last several decades have been remarkable. Unfortunately, how we deliver care has not kept pace, and so the experience is often fragmented and frustrating for patients. For clinicians, the complexities of care are compounded by systems that are burdensome, challenging to navigate, and frankly distracting. It’s no wonder providers are burning out at an alarming (and destabilizing) rate.
What is the remedy? How do we deliver the best outcomes for patients in a system that is supportive and sustainable for healthcare workers? Is it about managing expectations and maintaining boundaries? As clinicians, do we want a system that allows us simply to work less, or do we want a system that allows us to work better? Is work-life balance about surviving, or is it about thriving in both our professional and our personal lives?
The Value Equation: What really matters?
Value equals benefit divided by cost. For patients and families, the benefits are access to care, compassion, and the best possible outcome. Inconvenience, complexity, ineffectiveness, and medical errors are the costs.
For clinicians, it’s about doing meaningful work that is stimulating, fulfilling, and appreciated. Some costs - seeing and doing hard things - are to be expected, and for these we need to remain resilient and healthy. Others, like excessive clerical burden and system inefficiencies, compounded by a feeling of isolation and being under-appreciated, lead to physical and emotional distress and burnout.
Lastly, for organizations, value is about delivering safe, high-quality care. Inefficiencies, a vulnerable workforce, financial instability, and liability exposure are the threats.
The Path Forward: Focus on People
Healthcare is the ultimate “human experience.” Nothing is more personal, intimate, and consequential to a person than their health. For clinicians, the privilege and responsibility of their work can be humbling and depleting. To achieve the best outcomes for patients in a way that is sustainable for clinicians requires transactional proficiency that is rooted in trusting, intimate, and safe relationships. Genuine human connection enables compassionate care and operational effectiveness.
Communication is thus the currency of good care. It must be pursued with commitment. Listening to truly understand requires intentionality and discipline. Speaking to inspire confidence and trust is a skill that improves with practice. The intimacy of genuine human connection, especially in the service of someone in need is the ultimate source of fulfillment. Theodore Roosevelt said it best; “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care." Only by focusing on our shared humanity can we ensure optimal and compassionate care.
