Emergency Department Introduces New Patient/Family Liaison

from The Children's Hospital (TCH) News, May 2006

Mom Loretta Nielsen, left, and

her son meet with Karen

Davidson, the new Family/Patient

Liaison in Children’s Emergency

Department. Karen’s job is to

answer families’ questions and

help them feel more at ease

during their visits.

Who is the new woman wearing the pink or blue vest in the Emergency Department? That friendly face is Karen Davidson, the department’s new Family/Patient Liaison.

Davidson, whose position is designed to increase customer-service satisfaction in the ED, provides hospitality, support and communication to families during stressful ED experiences.

Davidson, who was once a patient at Children’s and is the mother of a former patient, is happy to now be an employee here.

“This job is perfect for me,” she said. “I have walked in (the) parents’ shoes before. I love to be with kids and comforting families.”

But you won’t find Davidson sitting behind a desk for more than a couple minutes. She is always walking around the ED waiting room, introducing herself to patients and families and making the rounds in patient rooms.

“I make sure families and patients’ needs are being met,” she said. “I address any concerns or questions families may have, including the care they are receiving, expected wait time and bringing them water and food.”

Davidson hopes the families and patients she meets will leave with positive memories of Children’s, just like her daughter did. “My child still asks about the nurse who treated her and the tricycle she learned to ride at the hospital,” Davidson said. “I want patients and families to leave and remember the hospitality and service they received in the ED. I want them to know that they were cared for.”

In addition to thinking proactively and taking initiative, Davidson says it’s important for her to communicate, remain positive and encouraging, and be willing to go out of her way for others.

“The ED can be very stressful for patients and families,” she said. “The ED is a very fast-paced environment, so if I can slow it down for families, get to know them and make sure they are being cared for, then I am doing my job.”

Davidson, who was born and raised in Colorado , was formerly a special-education teacher at Montbello High School and Aurora Central. Her teaching experience has played an important role in her new position at Children’s.

“I learned to communicate with a wide variety people and to break down complex information and explain it on a personal level,” she said.

She also can communicate in Spanish – a skill that is vital to her role because of the large number of Spanish-speaking families in the ED. She learned Spanish from the high-school students she taught over the years.

Davidson works in the ED 30 hours a week. Though her schedule changes frequently, she usually works Fridays and Saturdays from 6 p.m. to midnight and Sundays and Mondays from noon to 6 p.m. The ED’s highest volumes are on weekends, so she works to decrease the anxiety of wait times and to increase the flow of communication between doctors, nurses and patients.

“This is a job that I would absolutely do for free,” she said. “I love being in this environment. My goal is to at least make the patients smile – if I can do that, I know that I must be doing something right."