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Patient Representative Associates play key role in Emergency Department
- Sarah Rahamim is a Patient Representative Associate who volunteers four hours each week to assist in the hospital's Emergency Department. PRAs play important roles as patient and family liaisons by answering questions, relaying information, troubleshooting and offering comfort.
Patient
Representative Associates play key role
in
Emergency Department
When paramedics rushed a comatose 6-year old girl into the Stanford Emergency Department last summer, Sarah Rahamim took it upon herself to stay by the child's side for the next four hours.
"The girl had nearly drowned at camp and no one was able to reach her parents," said Rahamim. "I was worried that she would be scared and confused if she woke up all alone."
Rahamim is part of a team of dedicated Patient Representative Associates, or PRAs, who volunteer in the Emergency Department through a joint project involving the hospital's Patient Representation program and the ED. PRAs play an important role as patient and family liaisons by answering questions, relaying information, troubleshooting and offering comfort.
"When it's hectic in the ED, we don't have time to sit with a patient or to give people in the waiting room regular updates," said Linda Bracken, emergency nurse manager. "PRAs fill that gap. They keep the lines of communication open and free us up to devote our energies to patient care."
Department chief Robert Norris considers PRAs an integral part of the ED team responsible for keeping patients and their families informed.
"Patients get frustrated when they are kept waiting. They don't understand how we prioritize care and why it can take so long to stitch a cut on their hand," said Norris. "PRAs can explain what's going on in the ED or check on a patient's test results. More informed patients are happier patients, and happier patients mean happier staff."
Prior to joining the ED team last spring, Rahamim went through the same Patient Representative screening and training process as other hospital PRAs. The 20-hour basic training program covers a multitude of topics, including hospital protocols, interfacing with staff, infection-prevention techniques and dealing with people in crisis. Rahamim and the other PRAs in the ED received additional onsite training from Norris and Bracken as well.
"PRAs work in every area of the hospital and provide an important service. They are an integral part of our staff," said Jeanne Kennedy, director of the hospital's Office of Community and Patient Relations. "The ED program is just getting off the ground, and our initial goal is to recruit enough PRAs to cover the busiest shifts. The great thing about the ED is that it's open 24/7, so there's a time slot to fit just about anyone's schedule."
The mother of three, Rahamim puts in a four-hour shift in the ED every week. The work has inspired her to go back to school to get a nursing degree.
"I started out wanting to give back to the hospital for taking such good care of my youngest son. He had a brain tumor as a small child, and we spent a lot of time here," said Rahamim. "I enjoy being a PRA so much that now I want to turn what I do into a career."
PRAs are asked to commit to one four-hour shift a week for at least a year. Successful candidates possess good interpersonal skills, flexibility, self-initiative, sensitivity and the ability to work with very ill patients. The position also requires a large amount of standing and walking. For more information, contact Community and Patient Relations at (650) 723-7167.
