The Phantom Fifth Chair of Patient Experience

Over the past three years, the author has openly shared her journey as a certified patient experience professional facing triple negative breast cancer. The firsthand gravity of treatment became instantly apparent to her in the chemo chair. Resisting the temptation to crumble under the fear of it, she chose to view treatment as an unwanted yet precious opportunity to study her profession of patient experience from a deeply personal space. Determined not to waste the difficult long-term experience of treatment, she was compelled to write and speak about her convictions regarding the necessity of honoring patients by soliciting, documenting, believing, and responding to their collective voice while genuinely caring for the individuals who freely share their valuable insights with the patient experience professionals who endeavor to make health care better. What the author had not openly shared until now is that cancer was her third familial medical crisis in a two-year period. While not divulging specifics, she now shares, with permission, the timing and critical nature of the familial crises that preceded her own diagnosis. She does this in hopes of encouraging her professional experience peers who are fighting the good fight of ensuring that compassion remains paramount in the delivery of health care.