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When patients and families are grateful for care experiences, they often wish to express their gratitude in meaningful ways. Facilitating that gratitude helps ensure that grateful patients and families feel respected and honored. Unfortunately, all too often in healthcare, expressions of gratitude from patients and families are dismissed by providers with comments such as “it’s my job” or “we’re just happy that you’re feeling better” – responses that can frequently be perceived by patients and families as dismissive and even disrespectful (despite the very best intentions of care team members). Consulting with patients and families who feel their attempts to express gratitude were dismissed often identifies that there is a negative impact on how patients and families reflect upon and evaluate their care experiences, resulting in a less-than-ideal patient/family experience. 

If expressions of gratitude are inadvertently dismissed, the opportunity to hear and share those expressions with care teams results in many missed opportunities to positively impact clinician wellbeing. When consulted on how they feel after receiving expressions of gratitude from patients and families, clinicians often note that such expressions make a real difference as they are validating and help address symptoms of burnout by reinforcing the positive impact the clinicians are care team members are having on patients and families. 

There is significant evidence that confirms for patients and families who are philanthropic in their lives, facilitating expressions of gratitude for care experiences will often inspire discussions about the possibility of a philanthropic investment which will be used to advance the important work of the care teams for whom they are grateful. Many gratitude-inspired philanthropic partners in healthcare note that they find great joy and satisfaction in expressing their gratitude through a meaningful philanthropic investment that will enhance the work of care teams.