Patient experience encompasses the range of interactions that patients have with the health care system, including their care from health plans, and from doctors, nurses, and staff in hospitals, physician practices, and other health care facilities.
As an integral component of health care quality, patient experience includes several aspects of health care delivery that patients value highly when they seek and receive care, such as getting timely appointments, easy access to information, and good communication with health care providers.
Understanding patient experience is a key step in moving toward patient-centered care. By looking at various aspects of patient experience, one can assess the extent to which patients are receiving care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs and values. Evaluating patient experience along with other components such as effectiveness and safety of care is essential to providing a complete picture of health care quality.
LEARN MORE: How Video Remote Interpreting Improves Patient Experience
As you can imagine, the patient experience differs for those who speak limited English or are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.
Patient Experience Differs from Patient Satisfaction
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the terms patient satisfaction and patient experience are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. To assess patient experience, one must find out from patients whether something that should happen in a health care setting (such as clear communication with a provider) actually happened or how often it happened.
LEARN MORE: Why Healthcare Employees Need a Mobile Interpreting App
Satisfaction, on the other hand, is about whether a patient’s expectations about a health encounter were met. Two people who receive the exact same care, but who have different expectations for how that care is supposed to be delivered, can give different satisfaction ratings because of their different expectations.
Two Sessions on Patient Experience
LanguageLine is proud to be a Diamond sponsor of the 2021 “Beryl Elevate PX” Conference, which will be held virtually during patient experience week from April 26-29.
If you are one of the hundreds of patient experience professionals attending Elevate PX, please don’t miss the following presentations by our partners:
Breakout 5A – “Leading with Equity: Breaking Down the Barriers to Communication in Telemedicine” (April 28, 2:30 p.m. ET)
The Mount Sinai Health System, located in heart of New York City, serves one of the most diverse patient populations in the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the booming of telehealth encounters revealed the unequal access to care by patients with language barriers and disabilities. Ensuring equitable care and reducing disparities for the most vulnerable population is paramount to the organization.
Presenters will review how the health system partnered with LanguageLine to achieve a seamless integration of interpretation services on the different telehealth platforms. The presentation will also capture the patient’s voice, share recommendations for best practices, and discuss ongoing efforts to accommodate communication needs on different telehealth platforms.
Express Talk 4A – “How Mobile Interpreting Is Revolutionizing the Patient Experience” (April 29, Noon ET)
Hear Evelyn Ramos of New York Presbyterian Hospital describe how the organization quickly expanded mobile interpretation to serve their linguistically diverse patient population. The LanguageLine mobile app has provided language access to thousands of health-system staff members serving on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are able to reach LanguageLine-certified interpreters on-demand with just the touch of a button.
Please Visit Our Virtual Booth
Confused about federal requirements for language access? Want to know which documents are considered vital for translation? Curious about how to invite an interpreter into your next telehealth session? We also invite you to visit LanguageLine’s virtual booth at the PX Marketplace through the four-day event.
