Meeting JCAHO Standards from Recruitment to Termination - Term Paper Example

? Running Head: Meeting JCAHO Standards from Recruitment to Termination. Meeting JCAHO Standards from Recruitment to Termination. INSTRUCTOR NAME STUDENT NAME DATE OF SUBMISSION The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is a non-profit organization which deals in accreditation of over 19,000 medical organizations and programs all over the United States. The declared motto of his organization is: “To continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value” (Darryl Rich, 2002) Job description works as the core foundation of a quality proficiency program and provides the first step in this process. The Joint Commission ensures that the hospitals and healthcare organizations should formulate a way to be sure of the candidates’ capabilities and qualifications are in accordance with their responsibilities. Job descriptions that are proficiency based are the key foundation stones for meeting these expectations. The leaders of the organization should define the required proficiency and the capabilities and qualification of the staff. A proficiency based job description is the first step to proficiency validation of the organization. It is however, required to include the basic roles and responsibilities, primary source verification, the qualifications and the population of patients to whom the treatments are to be delivered. It should also be mentioned in the job description if there is any need of physical expectations from the candidates, the working environment and any other additional duties that will be assigned. (Brenda G. Summers, 2001) The Joint Commission suggests that the basic responsibilities should be mentioned in the “Essential Duties and Responsibilities Section” of the job description. This kind of proficiency based validation requires that every employee should possess the capabilities as identified in the job description and performs adequately his basic duties. Compliance with the above stated guidelines and some other rules; it is ensured that you have addressed the Joint Commission. The organization’s responsibilities include assessing all the employees’ capabilities to meet the expected performance levels as mentioned in the job description. It also includes hiring only the individuals who are competent enough to qualify for your organization. (Brenda G. Summers, 2001) Following is an example of a job description which complies with the Joint commission Standards: Proficiency based Job Description Job Title: Department: Section: Unit of Operation: Reporting to: Approved by: Date of Approval: Mission Statement: Summary: Targeted Patient Age and Population. Essential Responsibilities Organization’s Compliance Responsibilities. Job Requirements Educational and/or experience requirements Legal Compliances (if applicable) Physical Requirements Working Environment Employee’s Acknowledgment. (Brenda G. Summers, 2001) Next, within the scope of this paper, a sample selection process for a health care organization will be discussed which adheres to the legal regulations. Employee Selection Procedure The selection process will start from the Human Resource Unit. The HR unit will be required to hold initial reception for the candidates and conduct a primary screening interview. Appropriate employment tests should be conducted before the candidate is referred forward. The background and reference checks should be made by the HR unit. Typically, the past educational institutions and workplaces are questioned for the candidate. If the job has some physical requirements, the candidates should be examined physically and stated fit or unfit for the job. After all these steps, the candidate should be referred for more interviews from managers while the HR will keep evaluating the entire selection procedure. From the managerial staff, recruiting the right candidate is also not easy. The role of managers will begin by requisition of candidates for the current job opening. The final candidates who have passed the initial screening and physical examination from the HR would be then interviewed by the managers. The final decision will be in the hands of the manager to select the candidate after HR’s advice. Legal concerns for the selection procedure should not be ignored. The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) rules and regulations should be followed. No candidate should be referred or turned down on gender basis. No gender based discrimination should be made in the selection process. (Jack J. Phillips PhD in Human Resource Management., 2003) A comprehensive application form should be designed for the candidates including their educational background and work experience. No personal details should be included in the application form. The selection tests should start from the HR unit which should comprise of the following: Cognitive and Analytical tests, physical examinations, work sample tests and problem solving skills’ tests. Other tests may include some personality related tests. The interviews at the HR department should include structural interviews like biographical and behavioral interviews. Whereas, the mangers should conduct competency and problem solving interviews including run time work samples. The background information check should be conducted for the candidates including drug and criminal records, previous employment, educational, military records, credit history etc. After all these tests, interviews and background checks if the candidate fulfills all requirements, he should be made an offer or the job. Employee Retention Plan Employee retention is a key for a long term healthy employer-employee relations. One major cause of employees quitting the job is the expectations from him which he is not aware of. Following is a ten step retention plan to avoid employees quitting their jobs: 1. Every employee should be well aware of what he is expected to do every day. Task assignments should be clear and unambiguous. Task assignments and scheduling should be done before time. 2. There should be honest and frequent communication sessions between each employee and his reporting manager in which the employee should be motivated, and reminded for the growing expectations from him. 3. Steps should be taken for employee growth and learning. For example training sessions and workshops should be held within the premises of the organization. Employees with remarkable performance should be sent to different institutions for extra courses and training sessions according to their aptitudes. 4. There should be a monthly session held comprising of all the employees as audience where the managers should discuss the company achievements and goals and make them understand that it is all due to the employees’ efforts and hard work. 5. In this monthly evaluation session, an award should be presented to the outstanding “employee of the month” in order to motivate them and bring up an environment of healthy competition among them. 6. Salary packages should be regularly improved and suggestions should be taken from employees in their personal evaluation sessions. 7. Health insurance should be provided for the employees and their immediate families within the organization. 8. A self survey should be held in which each employee should be given a form to provide with feedback and suggestions for improvement for the organization. And these suggestions should be valued and taken care of. 9. Adequate leaves should be allotted to each employee every year and the employees should be encouraged to utilize their leave balance to get a few days rest and get back to work with more energy and motivation. 10. Employees should never be threatened of his job or salary. If he is not performing well, discussions and motivation sessions should be held to improve his performance. (Diane Arthur, 2001) Employee Termination Plan. It has been anticipated that about 80% of the lawsuits are filed from termination and penalizing proceedings (Carol L. Barbeito, 2006). Special care and planning should be used while terminating an employee in accordance to the laws of employee termination. Step 1: Termination of the employee should not be a surprise for him. If an employee is not performing well, first one-one meetings should be held between the employee and his reporting manager in order to motivate him to work better and overcome his weaknesses. If however, there is no improvement in his work, at least a couple of polite warnings should be given to him failing which a plan should be made of his termination. It has been suggested that there should be a gap of a few weeks between the two warnings in order to let the employee improve if he wants to. (Press., 2003) Step 2: Writing down the termination plan Lack of proper documentation may lead to several ambiguities in the employee’s mind. A proper write-up should be prepared for the employee termination which should ideally include the following: 1. Termination date. 2. Approval of the concerned authorities for termination. 3. Signature of the employee. 4. Reason of termination 5. Notification to the employee of the post-termination benefits that he would be awarded like health insurance for himself for the next one year. Besides this, the employee should be asked to return employer’s property like ID cards, Computers and passwords, employer’s handbook, keys and all other equipments. Step 3: Termination Meeting. A termination meeting should be held with the manager and the employee. Optionally, a witness can be present too. The employee should be informed of the reasons of his termination. The meeting should not turn into a heated discussion. After the termination meeting, the notice of termination should be presented to the employee. HR should take care of all documentation work and the finance department should take care of his clearance. Important to note clearance should be observed only when all office related equipments and documents have been returned by the employee. Bibliography Brenda G. Summers, 2. (2001). Competency Assessment: A Practical Guide to the Jcaho Standards. Opus Communications. Carol L. Barbeito, 2. (2006). Human Resource Policies and Procedures for Nonprofit Organizations. 1st edition. Wiley. Darryl Rich, 2. (2002). Ask the Joint Commission: Understanding JCAHO Requirements for Hospital Pharmacies. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Diane Arthur, 2. (2001). The Employee Recruitment and Retention Handbook. AMACOM. Jack J. Phillips PhD in Human Resource Management., 2. (2003). Managing Employee Retention: A Strategic Accountability Approach (Improving Human Performance). Butterworth-Heinemann. Press., H. B. (2003). Hiring and Keeping the Best People. Harvard Business Review Press. Read More