North Mississippi Health Services director of patient experience David Garrett has earned certification as a patient experience professional (CPXP).

The international designation from The Patient Experience Institute and The Beryl Institute is intended for health care professionals and other individuals with a commitment in patient experience improvement. The certification covers partnership and advocacy, measurement and analysis, design and innovation and organizational culture and leadership.

Garrett, the patient experience team, and the palliative care team were recognized as one as one of the 2020 Press Ganey Leading Innovators for COVID Response for their partnership with University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center in the “Meet My Loved One: Connecting Patients, Families, and Caregivers” project.

Formed in September 2010, The Beryl Institute is a global community of healthcare professionals and experience champions committed to transforming the human experience in healthcare. Patient experience encompasses the critical elements of healthcare from quality, safety and service, to cost and population health issues that drive decisions, impact access and ensure equity and reaches beyond the clinical encounter to all interactions one has with the healthcare system.

Garrett earned a bachelor’s degree in communication from Mississippi State University. He worked in television news as a sports anchor and marketing/promotion director before joining North Mississippi Health Services in 2003 as a professional recruiter. He went on to work in the NMMC Education department as education & training coordinator before becoming the system’s first director of patient experience in the Department of Organizational Performance.

Garrett is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He serves on the Mississippi Hospital Association’s Healthcare Quality Society Board and is Chair of the MHA Patient Experience Forum.

Garrett and his wife, Felicia, have three sons, Drew, Chris and Jason, and three grandchildren.