Senior Director, Patient Experience and Special Projects

University of Illinois Chicago•Chicago, IL

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Director of Patient Experience and Special Projects provides strategic leadership for the organization's patient experience program, advancing the organization's patient experience strategy and translating the CXO's vision into measurable improvements across the patient journey, while serving as the executive nursing liaison for enterprise operational initiatives. This role combines expertise in patient-centered care, operational excellence, and project leadership to ensure strategic initiatives support exceptional patient experiences and safe, efficient clinical operations. Working collaboratively across clinical and non-clinical departments, the Senior Director collaborates on organizational projects involving patient experience, facility construction, infrastructure improvements, technology implementations, operational readiness, and workflow optimization.

Requirements

Current State of Illinois Registered Nurse licensure required.
BSN or MSN required.
Master’s degree required; earned doctorate preferred.
Expertise and progressive experience in management and/or nursing management.
A minimum of ten years of increasingly responsible healthcare leadership experience required with proven experience managing large-scale hospital operations, patient experience strategies, and multidisciplinary teams in an academic or urban health system.
National Certification (ANCC, AONL, ACHE, etc.) required or attained within 6 months of employment.
Communication skills to lead, teach and influence change and sustainability.
Established reputation as a leader, consultant, and spokesperson for nursing.
Comprehensive and thorough understanding of all elements of health care delivery in patient care setting, including strategy, business planning, operations, and finances.
Understanding of health care industry changes, competitor actions, legal/regulatory changes, and technological trends.

Nice To Haves

Earned doctorate preferred.

Responsibilities

Serve as the operational and strategic partner to the chief experience officer, translating the organization's patient-experience strategy into measurable programs, initiatives and projects, drive cross-functional execution, and ensure that initiatives deliver tangible improvements in patient satisfaction, engagement, loyalty, operational effectiveness, and overall experience at every patient touch point.
Effectively lead the Patient Experience Specialists and Clinical Practice Analyst as strategic resources to optimize training, foster meaningful engagement, and maximize project outcomes.
Lead initiatives that optimize digital patient engagement platforms, including patient portals (e.g., MyChart, digital communities), mobile applications, digital communication tools, and patient education technologies.
Lead and support enterprise initiatives that enhance effective patient communication among leaders, providers, managers, and frontline staff, ensuring compliance with best practices, patient engagement, and excellence.
Optimize, analyze, and interpret patient experience data from multiple sources, and performance metrics to identify trends, capture the voice of the patient and prioritize improvement opportunities.
Collaborate with patient experience leaders, clinical and operational leaders to implement evidence-based service excellence and data-driven strategies that enhance patient satisfaction and overall patient outcomes.
Oversee the Patient Experience Specialists to ensure the development, coordination, and implementation of patient experience training, improvement initiatives of clinical and non-clinical teams across the enterprise.
Engage the Data Integration Process Analyst to identify opportunities that will improve the patient’s journey across all touch points, and ensure the implementation of project priorities, process improvement, supporting service excellence outcomes.
Manage cross-functional patient experience projects including PXCC initiatives from planning through implementation and evaluation.
Foster a culture of safety and accountability by reinforcing positive communication practices through leading the Coworker Observation Reporting System (CORS).
Serve as the nursing representative for major operational initiatives, including construction, renovation, expansion, and infrastructure projects.
Collaborate with Facilities, Information Services, Materials Management, Space Planning, Environmental Services, Clinical Engineering, Security, and other operational departments to ensure clinical requirements are incorporated into project planning and execution.
Lead nursing operational readiness activities for new facilities, unit relocations, equipment installations, and infrastructure changes.
Develop and oversee downtime and contingency strategies for planned and unplanned system outages, ensuring patient safety and continuity of operations.
Facilitate communication between clinical leadership and operational teams to identify risks, resolve issues, and support successful project implementation.
Lead multidisciplinary workgroups responsible for operational planning, workflow redesign, and change management.