Healthy Providers, Healthy Patients: Partnering to Improve Outcomes
Patient-Provider Stories
Health care is human – for patients and clinicians alike. Released during Patient Safety Awareness Week 2026, the NAM’s Healthy Providers, Healthy Patients project elevates stories that show how outcomes improve when patients and clinicians are true partners in care. These experiences highlight what becomes possible when clinicians can engage in shared decision-making and are supported to listen and respond to patient and community concerns. They underscore the need for environments that protect time, trust, and the patient-clinician relationship. When systems enable clinicians to deliver the care they aspire to provide, patient outcomes improve – and health workers can thrive.
Takeaway Lessons
Be a Change Maker
The following stories reflect how patients, clinicians, and families learn from one another and see each other beyond their roles.
They illustrate what becomes possible when care is grounded in shared purpose and mutual respect — where when patients and clinicians approach care as one team, every voice is valued, and communication is open. They also capture moments when assumptions are questioned, risks are addressed, and harm is prevented through accountability. In these environments, decisions are stronger, care is more responsive, and safety improves for all.
Let’s move toward care where collaboration becomes the default.
Shared Humanity, Stronger Care
Featured Patient Perspective
Gwen Darien, Patient Advocate in New York
“I got the best care that I could possibly get by working as a team and not simply by being the recipient and the object of care, but to actually be cared for and to care for the person who is caring for me.”
Patient Perspectives
Hear from a Patient in New Jersey
I was devastated with my ovarian cancer diagnosis. It was a lonely experience. My oncologist had seen worse and reassured me that he would do everything possible to treat my cancer. His words gave me hope and I felt less alone.
Provider Perspectives
Hear from a Clinician in New Mexico
I once wrote a eulogy for a dear patient after I learned of his expected death. It is a memento of his existence, a gratitude for his welcoming me in, an honoring of my love and loss, a mending of my heart. One cannot endure in palliative medicine without the willingness to deeply know one's patients—to know their diseases and symptoms, trials and tribulations, fears and hopes, and, if one is very lucky, their spirits and hearts. Writing is my way of processing, honoring, documenting all the tragedy, the loss, the grief, the resilience, and the love. Writing is a silent nod to myself for the bravery of being present for such great suffering, for opening my heart.
Hear from Alison Gorman, Health Worker in Maine
Despite being a physician, the hospital is not where I feel comfortable. I work hard to keep my patients at my community health center out of the hospital. I heard my name being called. I looked around and saw a couple of patients of mine who work at the hospital, on their break. I went over to them. They gave me a warm hug. They assumed I was there to work, but when I told them that I was there for a family member, they hugged me again. They asked me how I was and told me that they would pray for my family and me. It was what I didn't even know I needed. It reminded me that this special doctor-patient relationship is definitely not unidirectional. But rather, it is about all of us being seen as multi-faceted individuals, as well as part of a community, and that mutual care, trust and love can truly bring each of us healing.
Hear from Peter Iskander, Health Worker in Massachusetts
I once met a woman who never had a colonoscopy because she believed only men could get colon cancer. She ignored subtle symptoms for months. By the time we diagnosed her, the disease was extensive. That moment reinforced why education and screening at 45 truly saves lives. Her story stayed with me long after that visit. I realized misinformation can be as dangerous as disease. I wanted to create something bold, welcoming, and impossible to ignore - a rock show that sparks conversations, spreads awareness, and turns fear into action so others don't miss their chance at prevention. This sparked our "Louder Than Cancer!" Event, a rock show dedicated to colon cancer awareness.
Hear from Natasha Khalid, Health Professions Education Representative in Pennsylvania
Through house calls with Phyllis, I learned that medicine lives in shared stories, gardens, faith, and gentle greetings. As she chose to die at home, I understood that healing is not always curing. It is witnessing, honoring, and loving patients as whole souls whose lives quietly transform our own.
Patient-Clinician Partnership
Featured Patient Perspective
Rosie Bartel, Patient Advocate in Wisconsin
“That is why I still tell my story today. I believe in partnerships because I believe that if we want to really make a difference in our health care world, we have to hear our patients.”
Patient Perspectives
Hear from a Patient in California
I had a "brain event," which remains unknown to this day, but which led to compromised functions for 5 months. It was a humbling experience, and a journey into the patient's shoes, with compassion. I had to find self-compassion for my own limitations. This was hard, but certainly a lesson in resilience and well-being. Sometimes, merely having empathy for the human condition of our patients and ourselves is the first step away from burnout to resilience.
Provider Perspectives
Hear from a Clinician in Oregon
Most practitioners (residents, in particular) continue to rally despite exhaustion, personal struggles, and seemingly never-ending uphill battles. And patients can see their own fights, especially with long-term illnesses, in that same image.
Hear from Christine Bihday, Health Worker in Connecticut
A female patient with a history of trauma had a routine mental health appointment with me following an extensive workup for chronic vague abdominal pain. Her resulting new medical diagnosis required extensive surgery under general anesthesia. When I asked her how she felt in the setting of such difficult news, she replied that she was feeling "relieved" rather than the normally expected emotions like shock, anxiety, sadness, etc. She felt grateful that her primary care provider and specialists took the time to truly listen to her and were compassionate in the process, whereas she described being to multiple facilities over the years and being told her symptoms were "in my head." In this effective patient-provider relationship, she finally felt truly heard and validated. This example highlights our facility's strengths in providing individualized medicine using a model of trauma-informed care and effective collaboration between providers.
Hear from Trasera Rabenold, Health System Representative in Pennsylvania
On the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit, our nurse practitioner, who volunteers at a local boxing gym's "Knock Out Parkinson's" classes, arrived to work with her boxing gloves, along with a pair for a patient admitted with Parkinson's disease, and joined the patient and therapist during a scheduled session. She demonstrated simple boxing movements designed to improve balance, coordination, and strength, adapting each exercise to the patient's abilities. The patient's wife was present during the session, and both were beaming as they watched the patient engage in a new, empowering form of therapy. What began as an informal idea quickly became a turning point in his rehabilitation. Day by day, his speed, stability, and confidence noticeably improved. The patient was eventually discharged home with his wife, determined to continue his progress. He became an enthusiastic participant in the Parkinson's program at the same boxing gym where the nurse practitioner volunteers. He's shared he is still boxing regularly and remaining an active, vibrant member of his community. This experience reinforced the impact of creativity and shared decision-making in patient care. By merging clinical expertise with personal passion, the nurse practitioner helped the patient reclaim not only physical strength but also joy, motivation, and a sense of agency in his health journey.
Speaking Up for Safety
Featured Patient Perspective
Erica Steed, Patient Advocate in Georgia
“A clinician’s well-being is inseparable from a patient’s safety and trust. We want a world where better outcomes become the norm.”
Patient Perspectives
Hear from a Patient in Pennsylvania
Think about the out-of-proportion time nurses spend on the phone with insurers and pharmacy benefit managers for pre-authorization and other requests for medications, devices, and procedures. [Nurses] deserve to be acknowledged for their extremely important role in getting patients what they need. They are the ones who make it happen. The repetitive nature of certain tasks is one factor contributing to burnout. The uncertainty of approvals adds to patient stress and clinician frustration. The nurse on the phone intercedes. The nurse on the phone deserves our appreciation.
Hear from a Loved One in California
My family has been immersed at two ends of the health care spectrum—our daughter's last year of medical school, and my mother's struggle with lung cancer. We watched the pressures on my mother's care team, as they managed her disease while giving her hope…and patiently listening to anxious loved ones as they tried to cope. Before her death, my mother thanked her doctor for all that he had done, and called her granddaughter "Dr. Sanders." I witnessed my daughter's vigil at her grandmother's bedside, knowing that as a physician she would face this scene hundreds of times again. My mother passed away one week before her granddaughter's graduation from medical school. Though we often wilted under the pressure we felt, we were awed by the compassion of the clinicians. For clinicians fighting their fight with pressure, my hope would be that they can find both strength and balance in their role, knowing the value they bring to the patients they care for.
Provider Perspectives
Hear from a Clinician in New York
There’s a tenderness in addition to the time spent between patient and physician, all made possible by the scribe. These re-connections between doctors and patients by scribes can facilitate professional satisfaction and reduce burnout.
The content on this page does not necessarily represent the views of any one organization, the NAM, or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. We are sharing this content based on the expert guidance of the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative network to serve as a resource.
The funding support extended by the NAM Clinician Well-Being Collaborative’s sponsors makes work like this possible.
