Abstract
The battle line in the quest for excellence in healthcare goes through the patients’ experience. The patient experience is no longer an afterthought but the very essence of healthcare organizations’ existence. Excellence in patients’ experience is inextricably linked to excellence in employee experience, and patient experience suffers when staff morale is low. Of the many factors responsible for low staff morale, the most compelling have to do with management’s failure to strike the right balance between the workload demand and the organization’s capacity. When the staff is visibly overwhelmed, it is unrealistic to expect them to care much about the patient experience. Without careful monitoring of the available resources and staff’s capacity (in terms of time, equipment, processes, competencies, and skills), the patient experience will remain a distant concern for employees.