Patient Advocate Emergency Department

Conduct continuous, systematic rounding in ED treatment rooms and waiting areas to assess patient and family comfort, identify concerns, and provide timely support.

Proactively address non-clinical needs such as warm blankets, pillows, reading materials, phone chargers, and approved water or snacks when permitted by clinical staff.

Maintain awareness of the patient environment and promptly report cleanliness, supply, environmental services, or maintenance concerns to the appropriate department or leader.

Help patients and families understand the Emergency Department process, including triage, diagnostic testing, treatment flow, consults, disposition planning, and expected next steps.

Provide compassionate, realistic, and frequent updates regarding wait times, test results, imaging, physician evaluations, consults, admissions, transfers, or discharge planning, while remaining within role scope and privacy expectations.

Serve as a communication bridge for family members and support appropriate information sharing between families, patients, and the care team in accordance with HIPAA and hospital policy.

Recognize early signs of patient or family frustration and use active listening, empathy, and de-escalation techniques to support a calm and respectful care environment.

Address concerns in real time whenever possible and partner with ED leadership to resolve dissatisfaction related to communication gaps, delays, comfort needs, or other non-clinical concerns.

Escalate complex complaints, grievances, safety concerns, or unresolved issues to the Charge Nurse, Nurse Manager, Patient Experience team, Risk Management, or other appropriate leader based on hospital process.

Function as an additional support presence for the care team by promptly communicating patient concerns, pain complaints, changes in condition, or requests requiring clinical assessment to the assigned nurse, provider, or charge nurse.

Participate in ED huddles and collaborate with nurses, physicians, advanced practice providers, registration, social work, case management, security, environmental services, and patient experience staff to support coordinated care.

Document rounding activity, patient concerns, common themes, service-recovery actions, and escalations in the designated departmental tracking process.

Support patient experience and quality improvement goals by identifying trends, sharing feedback with leadership, and reinforcing behaviors that improve responsiveness, communication, safety, and overall perception of care.