Patient and Family Clinical Liaison

Position Objective:

The Patient and Family Clinical Liaison (PFCL) serves as a liaison between patients, families and the healthcare team. The PFCL enhances communication between the healthcare team and patients and their families by interpreting and explaining hospital processes, providing frequent status updates pertaining to the patient’s treatment plan and resolving patient’s problems and concerns. Providing clinical teaching and supervision and directing the most appropriate patient assignments for new and experienced staff.

Essential Job Duties:

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Waiting Room Responsibilities

1. Serves as the designated liaison through which the ED patients and visitors voice their non-clinical problems and concerns

2. Contacts waiting room patients regularly and provides updates on status of next steps in treatment

3. In conjunction with the clinical staff provides phlebotomy, EKG and other clinical services to facilitate patient flow

4. Keeps track of families in the waiting room and brings them to the bedside as appropriate

5. Notifies clinical staff immediately if any patient has a change in their VS or if patient complains of worsening pain

6. Assists patients and families in understanding the Emergency Departments processes

7. Offers patients and family members comfort measures such as a blanket

8. Intervenes with patient and/or family complaints as appropriate

9. Informs the charge nurse, manager or director of any complaints handled and appropriately escalates complaint if unable to resolve

10. Patients that have an extended time in the waiting room must have repeat vital signs done every 2 hours. Repeat vital signs to be entered into the EMR

10. Documents patient and/or family contact in the EMR.

11. Works closely with the charge nurse and medical staff to facilitate patient flow from the waiting room to the main ED. This includes assisting patients to their assigned room and notifies receiving nurse of patient’s arrival.

Acute Care/ RCE Responsibilities:

1. Offers patients and family members comfort measures such as a pillow and blanket. If cleared by the ED MD and/or patients nurse, provide nutrition as appropriate.

2. Offers distraction such as books or magazines

3. Makes rounds continually to all patients in the treatment area and document in the EMR when appropriate

Throughput:

1. Works closely with the charge nurse and review the bed board every two hours to determine patient needs to expedite discharge or admission.

2. Works closely with the medical providers to determine patients’ needs to expedite discharge or admission

3. At the direction of the charge nurse, assist patients that are waiting for Lyft or Uber

Educational/Experience Requirements

High school diploma

1-3 years’ work experience in a healthcare or hospital setting required.

1-3-year work experience in a service industry with direct first line customer contact preferred Basic computer skills to include data entry and retrieval

Reads, writes, speaks and comprehends English language; bilingual Spanish preferred

Ability to work independently and problem solve with minimal direct supervision

Required License/Certifications:

Current licensure by the Maryland State Board of Nursing as a CNA preferred

Customer service experience within an acute care environment

CPR/BLS provider

EKG and phlebotomy skills preferred at hire

Working Conditions, Equipment, Physical Demands:

Physical Requirements: Able to lift patients and patient care equipment up to 35 pounds. Must be able to push, pull and move patients, and patient care equipment. Must be able to bend body downward at waist and be able to kneel. Must have the ability to participate in assisting patients in and out of vehicles and wheelchairs and to push patients in wheelchairs.

Visual Activity: Required to have close visual acuity to perform activities, such as preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing computer terminals; extensive reading.

Auditory Acuity: Must have sufficient acuity to identify auditory alarms in noisy environments.

Environmental Conditions: Ability to work in a fast paced work environment with many distractions

There is reasonable expectation that employees in this position will not be exposed to blood-borne pathogens.

The above is intended to describe the general content of and requirements for the performance of this job. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities or requirements.