Patient Experience

Is clinician empathy the new painkiller for chronic pain patients?

April 16, 2024 - Clinician empathy could be a key pain reliever for patients experiencing chronic pain, with a recent study in JAMA Network Open outlining how greater perceptions of empathy from their physicians were linked to lower reported pain levels. To be clear, empathy doesn’t have the same physiological effects as taking ibuprofen or other pain...

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How patient experience data prompted patient engagement improvements

by Sara Heath

Ensuring an optimal patient experience might be a personal and professional passion for Shanna McCann, a senior experience coach at Children’s Minnesota Pediatric Hospital, but she knows making those improvements relies on cold, hard...

Disrespectful healthcare experience affects 33% of LGBT patients

by Sara Heath

A third of LGBT adult patients said they’ve had disrespectful healthcare experiences, a rate that’s double that for adults who do not identify as LGBT and should be a cause for concern for...

Do patients perceive healthcare’s gains in patient safety?

by Sara Heath

Patient safety has objectively improved since the pandemic, but do patients think so? Not so much, according to a new report from Press Ganey that found outpatients are far more likely to perceive...

Patient satisfaction suffers under poor hospital admission & discharge

by Sara Heath

Healthcare organizations working on improving the hospital patient experience need to focus on the admission and discharge process, with new J.D. Power survey data showing that patients are frustrated...

Healthgrades: communication, patient experience sway recommendations

by Sara Heath

Hospitals and health systems working to build a better reputation should focus on patient-provider communication, according to Healthgrades, which extrapolated insights about the overall patient...

What are the top patient safety concerns for this year?

by Sara Heath

Healthcare’s biggest patient safety threats for this year run the gamut of workforce concerns to patient access to maternal and perinatal care and all the way down to new health IT use, according...

A Third of Americans Say Racism Is a Major Problem in Healthcare

by Sara Heath

Although nearly a third of the American public thinks racism in medicine is a major problem, that proportion is actually much lower than the public perception of other sectors, potentially signaling a...

Half of Healthcare Staff Report Racism & Discrimination Against Patients

by Sara Heath

Nearly half of healthcare providers have borne witness to healthcare discrimination, doubling down on a patient experience and health equity problem that’s shown to impact patients of color and...

Patient Clinical Needs, Provider Skill Set Misalign 57% of the Time

by Sara Heath

“It’s not you, it’s me.” For nearly three in five patients, the clinician they meet with is a bad fit for their current medical needs, according to new Zocdoc data, presenting a...

Half of Transgender Patients Report Bad Patient Experience

by Sara Heath

The patient experience for those who are transgender is still being marred by poor treatment from clinicians and coverage denials from their healthcare payers, according to the US Transgender Survey...

Patient-Provider Communication About Dementia Left Wanting

by Sara Heath

Social stigma is getting in the way of patient-provider communication about Alzheimer’s and other dementias, but there’s a way around that, according to researchers from the Regenstrief...

Supporting the Provider Experience to Build a Good Patient Experience

by Sara Heath

Does a better patient experience start with a better staff and provider experience? If you ask Deirdre Mylod, PhD, the senior vice president of Research and Analytics at Press Ganey, it has to. Indeed, there is a key behavioral and...

Patient Boarding in the ED Soars by A Third at MGH, Harms Experience

by Sara Heath

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is boarding patients in the emergency department nearly a third more often than it has in the past, marking a serious capacity problem that’s impacting...

Hospital Wayfinding Strategies for a Better Patient Experience

by Sara Heath

Visiting the hospital can often mean a literal maze to recovery. While patients usually know they have a road paved with care management ahead of them, less is often made of the hospital wayfinding and navigation that can make or break the...

Which Healthcare Players Yield the Highest Patient Satisfaction?

by Sara Heath

While patient satisfaction with clinicians such as doctors and nurses is still high, that’s not necessarily the case with every healthcare player, according to recent Gallup polling. The survey...

Patient-Provider Communication Ranks High While Doc Face Time Lags

by Sara Heath

Patient-provider communication is proving highly effective and beneficial to the patient experience during hospital stays—but that’s only if a patient can actually see a doctor, according...

Patients Leery of GenAI for Medical Misinformation Potential

by Sara Heath

Four in 10 adults acknowledge that generative AI is ready for the healthcare big leagues, but most still harbor pretty significant concerns about the accuracy and sourcing of the medical information...

Zocdoc Sheds Light on User Appointment Scheduling Trends

by Sara Heath

Zocdoc Sheds Light on User Appointment Scheduling Trends Zocdoc users tended to prefer in-person care that is close to home, scheduled for earlier in the week, and wouldn’t have a long...

Behind Walgreens’ Move on Prescription Drug Costs, Patient Experience

by Sara Heath

Walgreens is pushing its newest prescription drug cost savings tool as the retail health provider continues to vie for the pharmacy as a key part of the overall patient experience. Riding tailwinds indicating that patients are...