Declaration for Human Experience
Our shared experience through the pandemic shifted the foundation of healthcare forever, exposing systemic weaknesses and wounds that can no longer go untreated.
Healthcare professionals and organizations have strived to respond to the needs of patients and the communities they serve with compassion and clinical excellence. Even as hospitals push beyond capacity, the challenges of adequate staffing and supply levels persist and exhaustion is overwhelming the healthcare workforce.
At the same time, the devastating impact of systemic disparities, inequities and injustices remains painfully apparent, effecting the essential issues of access to care, affordability and quality outcomes.
These issues, that lived just beneath the surface well before the pandemic, come with a heavy price. They call for a fundamental shift in thinking and direction.
We are now at a critical inflection point. There is no normal to which to return; and those who slide back to old ways, either intentionally searching for the comforts of the past or due to lack of clarity on how to push forward, are likely to become obsolete in our new world.
This reality calls on us to forge a new existence that begins with looking beyond the distinct silos of patient experience, employee engagement and community health, to focus on the common thread that binds each of these areas together—the human experience.
By elevating and transforming the human experience in healthcare, we can create a more effective, responsive and equitable healthcare system that results in better experiences and outcomes for patients of all backgrounds, a more supportive, energizing and collaborative environment for healthcare professionals and healthier communities that break down barriers to care.
We are called to lead courageously with the understanding that we are, first and foremost, human beings caring for human beings. In answering this call, we commit to:
- Acknowledge and dismantle systemic racism and prejudice, tackle disparities and provide the highest-quality, most equitable care possible.
- Understand and act on the needs and vulnerabilities of the healthcare workforce to honor their commitment and reaffirm and reenergize their purpose
- Recognize and maintain a focus on what matters most to patients, their family members and care partners to ensure unparalleled care and a commitment to health and well-being.
- Collaborate through shared learning within and between organizations, systems and the broader healthcare continuum to forge a bold new path to a more human-centered, equitable and effective healthcare system.
In making this declaration personally and publicly, we stand for all we can and must be in healthcare. In aligning our words and actions to move this cause forward, we commit to transforming the human experience in healthcare for all patients, the healthcare workforce and the communities we serve.
Sign the Declaration
Add your name to the list of individuals and organizations from around the world committing to transform the human experience in healthcare. Please click “individual” to sign as an individual and “organization” to sign as an organization.