Elevating the Emergency Department Experience: The Impact of Experience Ambassadors

By Jill Koss, Cook Children’s Medical Center 

At Cook Children’s Medical Center, we are committed to continuous innovation to enhance the patient and family experience. One key area of focus has been our Emergency Department (ED), where we identified an opportunity to improve the experience of waiting—both in the waiting area and after patients are placed in a room. This led to the transformation of our traditional ED Liaison role into the ED Experience Ambassador position, specifically designed to prioritize and elevate the patient and family experience during these critical moments. 

When recruiting for these roles, we intentionally sought individuals with strong backgrounds in customer service or service excellence. While prior healthcare experience was considered a plus, it was not a requirement. We believed that we could provide the necessary clinical environment training, but what mattered most was hiring team members who were passionate about delivering exceptional service and could bring genuine care and attention to every interaction with our families. 

The primary role of the Experience Ambassador is to provide information and resources, answer non-clinical questions, assess basic comfort needs, and support staff in their efforts to enhance the patient and family experience. As we developed this role within the ED, our Experience Ambassadors spent extensive time shadowing across various areas and with different team members to gain a deep understanding of departmental flow and processes. This immersion allowed them to identify key opportunities to elevate the overall experience for patients and families. 

Over time, the Experience Ambassadors became fully integrated into the ED workflow, building strong collaborative relationships with clinical staff and establishing clear protocols to enhance the experience of waiting in both the waiting room and treatment areas. They bring a proactive approach to service recovery, offering support in real time when communication challenges arise. Through targeted training, they have developed the skills needed to address and mitigate issues that could negatively impact the patient and family experience. 

As trusted allies to clinical teams, particularly during high-volume periods, the Experience Ambassadors provide an additional layer of support, helping to reduce stress and maintain a focus on compassionate care. We launched the program with a single Experience Ambassador and, within three months, expanded to a second position in response to early, measurable successes. Within the first year, a third Ambassador was added to extend coverage further into the evening, reflecting the growing value and impact of this role in our ED. 

Our team of three Experience Ambassadors shares additional responsibilities within their scope of service to further support the patient, family, and staff experience. These responsibilities include onboarding and supervising ED waiting room volunteers, managing in-kind donations that support patient and sibling activities, and recognizing staff through intentional rounding efforts that offer encouragement and small tokens of appreciation, such as snacks. One team member brings valuable experience in survey data analysis and has taken on the additional task of reviewing and sharing ED-related experience data with the team, helping to identify actionable opportunities for improvement. 

The Experience Ambassadors also serve as active members of the ED’s Patient Experience Champions committee, contributing real-time insights and frontline observations to drive improvements in service delivery. During times of lower ED volume, the Ambassadors proactively round on patients admitted to inpatient units following their ED visit. These follow-up visits are focused on continuous process improvement, providing an opportunity to gather timely feedback and address any unresolved concerns related to the patient’s ED experience. 

Throughout their work, the Experience Ambassadors remain grounded in the Cook Children’s Experience Standards: We connect. We collaborate. We elevate. Their efforts exemplify these values, ensuring that every interaction—whether with a patient, family member, or staff colleague—supports a culture of compassion, partnership, and continuous improvement. 

About Jill Koss

Jill Koss is the Director of Family Support Services at Cook Children’s Medical Center, where she began her career 34 years ago as a child life specialist. Now a key member of the Patient Experience team, Jill provides strategic oversight for departments and programs that offer healing experiences and elevate the care journey for patients and families. Her areas of responsibility include Child Life Services, Volunteer Services, Experience Ambassadors, and a range of complementary therapy programs, such as creative arts, facility dogs, and therapeutic clowns. Jill is also deeply committed to fostering a culture of emotional safety across the Cook Children’s Health Care System and remains actively engaged in advancing this important work.