Responsibilities

The Patient Relations Coordinator functions as an ombudsman and liaison, interfacing with patients, families, staff and administration to respond to and resolve issues relative to patients expressing dissatisfaction with hospital services or other problems during or following their hospitalization, and to act as a resource by providing needed information, services and education to patients, families and staff.

Essential Functions:

• Works with patients/families and/or patient's significant other in a timely and efficient manner to ensure or improve satisfaction with hospital services.
• Identifies and addresses patient's/family's/significant other's complaints, grievances, problems, inquiries or expressions of concern by working with hospital staff and management.
• Identifies and addresses trends or opportunities for improvement in a prompt manner.
• In the absence of the Patient Relations Representative, at times when volunteers stand in for that person, the representative is to follow up and follow through on issues that may be identified.
• To the extent possible, visits patients who are admitted (or if the patient cannot effectively represent his/her views, the significant others of that patient) within 24 to 48 hours of the admission, advised of the availability and role of the representative and told how to contact him/her should the representative's services be required.
• Assists in continuously assessing the overall quality of the patient care delivery process in order to identify areas for improvement.
• Works with administration and/or department managers to conduct follow-up on standardized patient satisfaction surveys.
• Provides in-services and/or counseling as requested by management regarding customer service standards.
• Reinforces, through daily involvement with staff, our commitment to quality service.
• Performs special studies, projects and other tasks/functions as may be assigned, such as notary services.
• Maintains records/documentation of all professional contacts and interviews on a daily basis to follow patients.
• Drafts a yearly departmental budget for review and subsequent approval by the Risk Manager.
• Acts as contact person when replacing/reimbursing for lost/damaged articles as indicated.