What is Patient Experience?

Understanding patient experience is a key step in moving toward patient-centered care. This resource provides a definition of patient experience, shows its difference to patient satisfaction and how it is measured.

Patient experience encompasses the range of interactions that patients have with the healthcare system, including their care from health plans, and from doctors, nurses, and staff in hospitals, physician practices, and other healthcare facilities. As an integral component of healthcare quality, patient experience includes several aspects of healthcare delivery that patients value highly when they seek and receive care, such as getting timely appointments, easy access to information, and good communication with healthcare providers.

Last modified: February 5, 2024

Language: English

Source: AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)

Year of Publication: 2016