What is patient experience and why does it matter?

The term 'patient experience' encompasses the range of interactions that patients have with the healthcare system. The Beryl Institute’s current definition for patient experience is “the sum of all interactions, shaped by an organisation’s culture, that influence patient perceptions, across the continuum of care”. Essentially, ‘patient experience’ is what the process of receiving care feels like for the patient, their family and carers. For example, the way a phone is answered, how a GP examines them, or how a nurse might explain what is happening. In the UK, the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement recently described patient experience as: ‘if safe care and clinical excellence are the ‘what’ of healthcare, then experience is the ‘how’’.

Patient experience is measured by systematically collecting feedback at each point of interaction between a patient and a healthcare provider or research organization. This feedback reveals where processes work well and where they create friction. By evaluating these interactions directly, teams can identify specific improvements to the safety of care and the overall quality of the patient experience.

There are many ways to collect patient feedback to understand their experience. A few examples are as follows:

• Surveys and questionnaires
• Patient participation groups, patient panels and service user groups
• Focus groups and one-to-one interviews
• Patient stories
• Patient Experience Trackers (PETs)

The National Health Service in the UK (NHS), released a public document in October 2011 disclosing the framework it uses to measure patient experience. The framework outlines key elements which are critical to the patient experience as a whole, including respect for patient-centred values, preferences and expressed issues like cultural issues, dignity and privacy, as well as elements like physical comfort and emotional support.

Why is patient experience important?

Patient experience directly affects clinical and operational outcomes. In healthcare, it is recognized as one of three key components of quality, alongside safety and effectiveness. In clinical research, it influences enrollment rates, participant retention, and the quality of long-term engagement. Improving experience has an obvious benefit to patients, but some of the less apparent advantages are equally significant:

Better health outcomes

Research has consistently shown a link between patient experience and health outcomes. Patients who feel informed, respected, and supported during care tend to adhere more closely to treatment plans and engage more fully in their health decisions. This extends to research participation: when patients experience care as fundamentally human, they are more likely to remain engaged across longer study timelines.

A better staff experience

When participants have a poor experience, the quality of staff-patient interactions is directly affected, introducing variability into processes that depend on consistency. In cases where patients are feeling confident that their experience is good, it has a positive impact on staff experience too.

Lower cost of care

Poor experiences generally lead to higher costs as patients may have poorer outcomes, require longer stays, or need to be admitted for further treatment.

Stronger organizational reputation

Patient experience has a direct influence on an organization's reputation. Poor experiences erode trust and credibility, while consistently positive interactions build the kind of reputation that supports long-term relationships with patients, participants, and partners.

As clinical research increasingly depends on participant trust and sustained engagement, patient experience has become a measurable driver of trial quality — not just a measure of satisfaction. Measuring patient experience and assessing person-centred care is a key step towards ensuring accountability and improving overall quality of care.

How to improve patient experience

Improving patient experience is not always simple, particularly for large-scale organizations with multiple points of contact. However, with a receptive culture and a concrete approach to collecting, analyzing, and learning from patient feedback, meaningful improvement is achievable.

Every interaction between a patient and an organisation should be evaluated. Understanding what is important to the patient, and viewing the interaction through their eyes, is vital to determining what can be improved. The best way to understand the current patient experience within an organisation is to get direct feedback from the patients themselves, using the methods listed earlier in this article.

There are several proven methods for improving patient experience:

• Shared Decision-Making: Involving patients in their treatment plans.
• Empowerment: Providing appropriate information and education.
• Patient-Centred Values: Respecting individual preferences and needs.
• Expectation Management: Relieving anxiety by communicating clearly about waiting times and processes.

Conclusion

Patient experience has always been a key aspect of care, but its role in clinical research is now equally clear. Every interaction, from first contact through enrollment, participation, and follow-up, shapes how a participant perceives the study and whether they remain engaged. This directly affects treatment outcomes, staff experience, and the cost of delivering care or running a trial. Providing a high-quality patient experience is not optional. It is a structural requirement for studies that depend on sustained participant engagement.

With clear communication, person-centered care, and systems designed around the participant journey, the impact on both patients and research outcomes is significant.