Having an umbrella when it rains

I recently went to a Whole Foods store, and typical of a summer day, it was bright sunshine when I entered but emerged 10 minutes later to a torrential downpour. I was so surprised and grateful to see two Whole Foods employees in the parking lot with umbrellas, there to shepherd unprepared shoppers to and from their cars.

There are lots of reasons for a foodie like me to love Whole Foods, but my loyalty to the store increased not because of the delectable treats in the cart, but because they thought about my needs outside of the store. The cost of this intervention to Whole Foods was minimal, but it was an experience I lauded all day and shared on Facebook to my hundreds of friends.

Similarly in health care, the patient experience develops not just during the actual encounter in the physician office or hospital room, but in the minutes, days and week prior to and afterwards. What are the confounding factors that make your patients have a positive or negative patient experience? Do your employees have the tools and the freedom to give your patients an umbrella when it rains?