A bustling lobby. Lots of activity. You are a patient trying to get to your upcoming appointment or you are a family member visiting a loved one. A friendly staff member in a red blazer greets you and offers assistance. This Red Coat Ambassador knows exactly where you need to go and the easiest way to get there.
Building rapport, being sensitive to patients’ needs and capable of putting people at ease: the Red Coat Ambassadors are important care team members for our Penn Medicine patient experience.
Initially established at HUP and the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, the program’s success is leading to expansion throughout UPHS. The Penn Medicine logo will be replicated on every red jacket, but, more important, Penn Medicine is providing one set of service standards and one approach to greeting and directing our patients across all of our locations.
“The Red Coat Ambassador Program helps us provide that consistent experience for our patients, families and employees,” said Craig Loundas, AVP of Penn Medicine Experience. “Our Red Coats are core to how we are operationalizing the Penn Medicine Experience, which is helping to establish a unified standard of service excellence across all of our entities and work locations.”
The Patient Experience Leadership Team is leading the program’s expansion to all of our entities as well as several ambulatory locations throughout the region. Karen Rivera-Gorski, senior consultant in Penn Medicine Experience, has been coordinating with the entities to customize service excellence training sessions for the new wave of Red Coat Ambassadors.
“The training sessions include components of our Penn Medicine Experience service excellence program, which equips health system employees with tools and skills to provide a consistent, high-quality experience – at each facility and unit, with every patient interaction,” she said. An important objective of the training sessions is to encourage employees to build customized and personal scripts to introduce themselves to the patient, use their name, explain their role and activities, and assist patients and families with wayfinding and concierge services for their visit.
So far, the implementation is being met with rave reviews.
“The Red Coats are easily identifiable, standing out like a beacon,” said Janet Ready, president of Princeton Medical Center and SVP of Princeton Health, adding that Princeton’s blue-coated Guest Relations Ambassadors laid the foundation for the new Red Coat program. “The Red Coats can help relieve the stress that individuals often feel with a trip to the hospital, which gives us a great first step toward an exceptional experience for everyone who enters Princeton Medical Center.”
“They build relationships. One team member has an uncanny way of knowing everyone’s name the minute they walk in the door. Another was invited to a patient’s final radiation treatment for the ringing of the bell, a tradition in Radiation Oncology,” said Kathy Stocker, director of Volunteer Services at CCH. “They are truly building relationships, and patients, visitors and hospital staff are so appreciative of their presence.”
“The Red Coat Ambassador initiative that’s being implemented with the Guest Services team at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health will further elevate the superior services we provide to the patients, guests and every department we have the opportunity to work with,“ said Janice E. Jackson, supervisor for Guest Services, Lancaster General Health.
For more information on initiatives impacting the patient experience, email craig.loundas@uphs.upenn.edu. To visit the Penn Medicine Experience website, type “pmx” into your Internet Explorer browser.