Introducing… a patient experience specialist

Judy Baxter Foreman is a patient experience specialist at Hamilton Health Sciences. She has been in this role for two years.

What made you enter your field of work?

I have worked in health care for many years and have always felt it a privilege to support patients at a time when they may feel very vulnerable. I am struck by the impact that  compassionate and empathetic listening  can have on people. Those types of interactions make my job  meaningful to me.

What do you love most about your job?

There are lots of interesting aspects to my job that I enjoy.  One of the things I  love is working with the patient and family advisors and seeing the collaborative process when they are engaging with staff and physicians on projects and  working groups. Advisors are people who have experienced care at HHS as a patient or a care provider/ family member of a patient. They provide valuable insights that help us to continuously improve.

it is really important for us to listen to the perspectives  of the people who receive care here.

When you tell people what you do, how do they usually react?

Sometimes people don’t envy the patient relations part of my job. I think it is really important for us to listen to the perspectives  of the people who receive care here. It can be very impactful to hear the people’s stories about their healthcare journey.

Tell us about your most gratifying experiences at HHS

Of course we strive for every patient experience to be a great one, but when people do bring concerns to our attention, it can be gratifying to see how their feedback can make a positive  difference and to see how appreciative people are when their concerns are resolved.