Director- Patient & Family Experience Full Time Days
ETCH · Knoxville
BASIC PURPOSE OF THE JOB:
The Director of Patient & Family Experience serves as a champion for children and families, ensuring every interaction across the healthcare journey is compassionate, respectful, and centered on the unique needs of pediatric patients and their caregivers. This leader is responsible for shaping and sustaining a culture where the voices of children and families are heard, valued, and embedded in care delivery.
This role provides strategic and operational leadership for Patient Experience, Child Life Services, Family Advisory Councils, and Expressive Therapies. Through a combination of data-driven insights, proactive coaching, and meaningful family engagement, the Director drives measurable improvements in experience outcomes while supporting the emotional, developmental, and psychosocial well-being of patients and families.
The Director partners closely with clinical and operational leaders to influence behaviors, develop targeted strategies, and ensure that family-centered care is not only a philosophy—but a lived experience in every setting.
REPORTS TO: Chief Nursing and Experience Officer; VP Patient Care Services
DIRECT REPORTS: Yes
- • Patient Experience Business Partner(s) / Coach(es)
- Manager, Child Life Services
- Coordinator/Lead, Family Advisory Councils
- Expressive Therapies Program (e.g., Art, Music, Recreational Therapy)
MINIMUM EDUCATION:
Master’s Degree
DEGREE PREFERRED:
Healthcare Administration, Nursing, Social Work, Public Health, Business Administration, or related field preferred.
LICENSE/CERTIFICATION REQUIRED:
- • Certified Patient Experience Professional (CPXP) required within one year of hire
- Clinical licensure (e.g., RN, LCSW, CCLS, or related) preferred
MINIMUM WORK EXPERIENCE:
- • Minimum of 5–7 years of progressive leadership experience in healthcare, patient experience, customer experience, service excellence, consumer experience, or a related field influencing patient and/or customer experience outcomes
- Strong preference for experience leading patient experience strategy, culture transformation, service excellence, and performance improvement initiatives within a healthcare environment
- Demonstrated success leading culture transformation, accountability, and change management initiatives that improve patient and family experience outcomes across multidisciplinary teams
- Experience translating patient and customer feedback and experience data into operational and cultural improvements
- Proven experience in data mining, interpretation, benchmarking, and trending of patient and/or customer experience metrics
- Experience overseeing or partnering with Child Life, family-centered care programs, expressive therapies, or related patient support services strongly preferred
- Pediatric healthcare experience or experience working with children and families strongly preferred
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:
- • Deep understanding of patient, family, and consumer experience best practices, including family-centered care principles and child development across the continuum of care
- Strong leadership and executive presence with the ability to inspire, mentor, influence, and develop high-performing, compassionate teams while driving organizational culture and behavior change
- Advanced ability to analyze and interpret complex patient and/or customer experience data, identify trends, benchmark performance, and translate insights into meaningful, measurable improvements
- Expertise in performance improvement methodologies (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, PDSA cycles), service recovery, conflict resolution, and escalation management
- Demonstrated ability to foster a culture of accountability, responsiveness, empathy, and continuous experience improvement across multidisciplinary teams
- Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to elevate the patient and family voice through data, feedback, and lived experiences
- High emotional intelligence and the ability to balance operational priorities with empathy, relationship-building, and professionalism in sensitive, high-impact situations
- Knowledge of patient/customer feedback platforms, experience measurement tools, benchmarking methodologies, and regulatory requirements related to patient rights, grievances, and experience
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Strategic Leadership:
- • Define and lead a comprehensive patient and family experience vision and strategy that reflects the organization’s commitment to children and families
- Ensure that the voice of the child and family is embedded in organizational priorities, decision-making, and care delivery models
- Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to drive sustained improvement in patient experience outcomes
- Partner with executive leadership to integrate patient and family experience into the organization’s strategic and cultural priorities
- Promote a consumer-focused approach that enhances trust, loyalty, and engagement across the care continuum
- Serve as a strategic advisor to executive leadership on patient, family, and consumer experience priorities and trends
Operational Oversight:
- • Provide leadership and direction for Patient Experience, Child Life Services, Family Advisory Councils, and Expressive Therapies
- Ensure programs support the emotional, developmental, and psychosocial needs of pediatric patients and their families
- Promote innovative, child-friendly, and family-centered approaches to care delivery across all settings
Data, Analytics & Performance Improvement:
- • Lead data mining, aggregation, and analysis of patient experience data, including surveys, complaints, and qualitative feedback
- Identify trends and root causes, translating insights into targeted, actionable strategies and interventions
- Develop dashboards and reporting mechanisms that clearly communicate performance and opportunities to leaders and teams
- Drive continuous improvement efforts that result in measurable, sustainable enhancements in patient and family experience
- Monitor industry trends, benchmarks, and best practices in patient and customer experience to inform strategic priorities
Coaching, Culture & Leader Engagement:
- Develop and sustain a culture of service excellence that prioritizes compassionate, personalized, and family-centered interactions
- Lead a team responsible for proactive, real-time coaching to improve communication, empathy, and patient-centered behaviors
- Partner with operational and clinical leaders to hardwire experience behaviors and accountability into daily operations
- Partner with leaders at all levels to build ownership and accountability for patient experience outcomes
- Influence and guide leaders to model behaviors that reflect compassion, respect, and family-centered care
- Develop and implement training programs that elevate the skills and confidence of staff in engaging children and families
Family Engagement & Advocacy:
- • Oversee and strengthen Family Advisory Councils, ensuring authentic partnership and meaningful integration of diverse family perspectives
- Create opportunities for patients and families to co-design care processes, programs, and environments
- Advocate for the needs of diverse patient populations, ensuring equitable and inclusive care experiences
- Ensure patient, family, and consumer feedback mechanisms are accessible, responsive, and integrated into improvement efforts
Quality, Safety & Compliance:
- • Ensure compliance with regulatory standards related to patient rights, grievances, and experience
- Partner with Quality, Safety, and Risk teams to align patient experience with clinical outcomes and safety initiatives
- Ensure timely, compassionate, and effective resolution of patient and family concerns
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
- • Reasonable accommodations may be made for individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position
- Light lifting, pushing, and pulling are required for 10–20 lbs occasionally and frequent moving of objects of less than 10 lbs
- Frequent sitting with some walking, standing, squatting, bending, and reaching
- Keyboard/computer use and/or repetitive motions may be required
Come work where you can make a difference everyday.