Patient Navigator

Job Description

Involves providing non-clinical support, guidance and assistance for patients and families as they navigate through complex healthcare environments. Primary goals are to increase patient satisfaction, and to optimize care and outcomes. Acts as a communication liaison to understand the patient's non-clinical individual needs, expectations, and concerns. Guides the patient and family to a broad range of services, amenities, and information to promote healing and ensure satisfaction with the patient care experience.

 DEPARTMENT DESCRIPTION:

 The Behavioral Emergency Response Team (BERT) is UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals' pediatric behavioral health crisis service, providing rapid assessment, crisis intervention, risk evaluation, and disposition planning for children and adolescents experiencing behavioral health emergencies in the Emergency Department and on inpatient units. BERT partners closely with Emergency Medicine, inpatient medical teams, nursing, security, and Psychiatry to determine the appropriate level of care, including inpatient psychiatric hospitalization when clinically indicated. BERT operates as part of the broader Behavioral Health Crisis Services program, alongside the Crisis Response Bridge Clinic, Psychiatry Consultation-Liaison, and Code CARE, together providing a continuum of crisis assessment, stabilization, and follow-up care. Services are trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and grounded in principles of equity and recovery.