Patient Engagement Specialist - Office of the Patient Experience - Regular Full-Time 2025-12067

The Office of the Patient Experience (OPE) at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is seeking a Patient Engagement Specialist. This individual will join the OPE team and will have responsibilities for leading the Patient and Family Advisory Councils (PFACs) and supporting the engagement of patient and family partners as well staff, physicians and learners in both clinical and research domains. The individual will be responsible for leading the implementation and evolution of Sunnybrook's engagement strategy.

This role will report to the Chief Patient Experience Officer.

Summary of Duties

Patient and Family Partners

• Partner with the Patient Experience Ambassadors to enhance organizational support for patient and family engagement to drive improvements
• Lead the daily operations of the patient engagement program at Sunnybrook
• Ensure sustainability of Patient and Family Advisory Councils (PFACs)
• Standardize the recruitment and interview processes that enable ongoing identification and selection of effective and diverse patient and family partners
• Coordinate and match patient and family partners with staff working on hospital initiatives
• Build and deliver training and capacity building educational programs for patients, family and staff for meaningful patient engagement practices
• Provide expertise to clinical teams in support of knowledge translation for best practices in patient and family engagement
• Create indicators and metrics of success for the patient engagement program as well an implementing a patient and family partner recognition program

Patient Engagement in Research

• The Patient Engagement Specialist will spend one day per week working directly with the Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) to foster increased partnership between researchers and patients and families in health and healthcare research.
• Duties will be inclusive of those detailed above, however will be focused within the research domain by creating and building on existing activities.

Qualifications/Skills

• Minimum 3 years of experience in healthcare related
• Bachelor’s degree required; Master degree in health-related field preferred
• Experience and/or education in facilitation, mediation, and/or conflict resolution an asset
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Strong group facilitation skills
• Ability to maintain composure under pressure and discretion when dealing with sensitive and highly confidential issues.
• Ability to do multiple tasks simultaneously and work both independently and as part of a team
• Demonstrates compassion and empathy
• Possesses an understanding of health equity principles and a commitment to ongoing learning