Employee orientation key to transition

Practice Management. By Mike Norbut, amednews staff. Sept. 22/29, 2003.

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

A column about keeping your practice in good health

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You've found the right person for an open position in your office. You've made sure he or she has the experience to handle the duties and the personality to mesh well with other employees.

Now comes the important part.

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The time and money you spent searching for and hiring a new employee can be lost without a good orientation program, consultants say. From having policy manuals and tip sheets ready for new employees to encouraging them to shadow staff members, there are things a physician can do to ease the transition -- and keep the practice running smoothly.

The biggest problem for doctors is carving out time to spend with the new employee. They often leave those duties for the office manager, or, in the case of a small practice, new employees may be expected to learn as they go. But with tightening privacy laws and declining reimbursements, a laissez faire attitude can be costly.

"A huge part of training now is privacy laws," said David McKnight, vice president of sales and consulting services for Total Practice Management LLC, a medical billing and consulting firm based in Youngstown, Ohio. "A new employee could, from day one, minute one, violate a patient's rights. That immediately puts your practice at risk."

A practice can prevent future mishaps by having information ready on a new employee's first day. Practices should have policy manuals and employee handbooks, and they also can create reference sheets, like a list of medical terms or answers to frequently asked questions. If the new employee needs to know which insurance plans are accepted or how the office handles after-hours prescription refill requests, the answer will be written out, consultants said.

With a little work, manuals can be created for front-office and back-office staff, said Debra Phairas, president of Practice & Liability Consultants in San Francisco. Phairas said she even encourages practices to take photos of how equipment trays should appear before certain procedures.

"When new staff comes in, they can read and remember what they're supposed to do," Phairas said. "Part of the orientation should include spending a little time at everyone's job."

At Byron Family Medicine, a five-physician practice in Byron Center, Mich., new employees go through an extensive orientation. New medical assistants spend time with all physicians to learn specific nuances and quirks. The practice has a checklist of items to review with each new employee, said Tim Tobolic, MD, a family physician and a partner.

"Twenty years ago, it seemed like there was a better pool of people to draw from, and you were learning as much from them as they were from you," Dr. Tobolic said. "Now, not only do they have to be oriented to the nuts and bolts of medicine, but one of the bigger challenges has been teaching them about [electronic systems]."

While it may be easier for a larger practice to devote time to orientation, consultants insist small practices can accomplish the same goals by being resourceful. For example, a physician could ask the local hospital to include new employees in upcoming training sessions for general topics, said Susan Keane Baker, a speaker and author of Managing Patient Expectations.

Even little things, like having the employee's desk ready and a space to hang up a coat, can have an impact, Baker said. A call to explain housekeeping items like where to park or what the staff usually does for lunch can ease the first-day jitters.

"It's stunning sometimes to hear people talk about how nothing was ready when they got to work," said Baker, who is based in New Canaan, Conn. "If you call the night before, the person really comes in with those little questions taken care of."

That will not only keep the practice running effectively, but also will motivate new employees to work hard.

"Staff members will work a lot harder for a doctor who spends some time with them," Phairas said.

Practice Management is written by members of our Business staff.