Patient Experience Key Element in Safety and Quality Improvement Initiatives

Patient experience is a valuable element of addressing patient safety incidents and conducting quality improvement initiatives.

Including patient experience in the process of addressing a patient safety incident elevates the effort, Mercado says. "The patient experience gives practitioners and other stakeholders an opportunity to reflect repeatedly in public and private settings about what went wrong and how badly they felt about it. Maybe next time they will slow down, double-check, or use the learning to make sure that the error does not happen again. The human element of involving patients makes a lasting impression."