Selecting Patient Escorts - Assignment Example

Assignment week 3 Critique each of the alternative approaches suggested for solving the problem of selecting patient escorts at City Hospital. Patient escorts are individuals allocated the duty to assist in moving patients in the hospital from one point to another not considering training or their physical talent. City hospital has about 20 escorts however; a nurses or orderly can move the patient if the distance is short. The first argument from the chief supervisor of escorts that the form is void and didn’t have any useful information is a contributing factor to the problems encountered by the hospital. The form should involve questions that contribute to analyzing an individuals’ character because the duty assigned to an escort requires good personal relations skills. Assigning escorts was one of the strategies designed by the city hospital to market the hospital hence; the administrator should ensure that all staff are competent enough. Character is one of the elements to consider when recruiting candidates for the positions of escorts. Some of the ways to identify the character would be through asking questions either orally or using questioners during the interview. Questions like their hobbies, outside activities and their personal likes and dislikes on the application form would be a good idea as it focuses on the employees’ personality on the ability to remain friendly and polite to patients and colleagues at work all the time (K. Kolcaba, An introduction to comfort theory. In The comfort line.). The idea from the supervisor of patient escorts on using questioners to judge personality would also be limited in the sense that interaction between the patients and escorts would be verbal. He would rather suggest to the department conducting the interview to incorporate oral interview. Considering advice from the assistant human resource director that, the hospital should modify the typical interview through asking four or five stress producing questions. This would be very helpful because It would give the hospital better candidates that are competent enough to manage and cope with stress situations well (K. Kolcaba, Comfort theory and practice: a vision for holistic health care and research). Each applicant should submit three letters of recommendation from people that know them really well. This was the second suggestion made by the supervisor of patient escorts to curb the prevailing issues faced in the hospital. It is a good suggestion unlike the first criteria used where only one recommendation letter was required in recruiting escorts. It gives the impression that the individual applying for the job opportunity is interactive and has previously interacted with people. It also portrays the degree of socialization and other personal principles of an individual which is a crucial and relevant trait to look for in an individual. The previous system that the hospital used to recruit escorts is that, the hospital used to make a call within the hospital during a reference check because, those interviewed knew some other employees in the hospital. It is a good criterion for interviewing individuals and acts as assurance in the sense that, the hospital has experience working with the person writing the recommendation and their conduct at work reflected. This would be better compared to having recommendation given by people outside the institution. Suggestion by the head of the staffing section that, an attitude test be developed to measure applicants’ predisposition towards being friendly, helpful and sensitive is another step to tackle the problems facing the hospital. Test questions would also be a component of the attitude test package and would be a key role in the interview for competent escort. Recommend a procedure for recruiting and hiring patient escorts. Recruitment of patient escorts involves a series of steps in the choosing the right individuals for the job. The process involves; 1. Going through policies and procedures Policies and procedures that govern the selecting of patient escorts ensure the organization efforts to select proper patient escorts for the job. Policies and procedures assist in getting information on the type of escorts to choose at the final step. 2. Preparation of employment application forms Employment forms carry the information of the employment terms taken and the requirements expected of the patient escorts. Display of this information on the forms is important in informing the potential candidates on the job description. 3. Set recruiting sources including college recruiting, job affairs, or online sources. Recruiting of potential candidates involves going through various venues to collect the best candidates available for the job. College recruitments, job fairs and online sources offer a great platform for sourcing for candidates. 4. Call successful employees for the set application and identification On selection of successful employees calling them to set an interview date and clarify their availability on the date of the interview. 5. Interview the candidates The interview process takes place in three steps. The first includes an aptitude test followed by a practical test in the hospital and lastly an oral interview to understand the thinking perspective of the individual. 6. Track the applicant through the information provided , make the selection and offer letters of acceptance Tracking the patients ensures the process selects the best candidates for the job. On satisfaction of the chosen individual, the interviewers make the selection and provide the accepted candidates with the letters of acceptance. Besides improving its selection procedures, what other actions could the hospital potentially take to improve the behavior of the patient escorts? Professionalism The hospital can open up a faculty to offer relevant education pertaining being an escort. This would bring seriousness in the field and the applicants for the job would see it more as a career than a part time job that pays well. Offering keen supervision to escorts The management can achieve this through the supervisor(s) ensuring each escort understands what is expected of them and the consequences involved. One way would be through placing tough punishment to cases of negligence or breach of duty. This will make the escorts keen when handling patients. Assigning specific escorts to specific patients This can be achieved through creating a chat where each escort would sign the patients they handle. Another way to do this would be through creating management system that would be efficient for reference in future. Embedding visible tags with the name on the escort’s uniform This would make it easy for a patient to identify the escort attending to the patient. The patient would be able to call the attendant by name or rather get the name easier through reading it making it easier to interact. Evaluation of escorts from time to time This would be necessary to monitor and motivate the escorts to enhance their performance in the hospital from time to time. Evaluation would also bring out competence in the job. Works Cited Kolcaba, K. "An introduction to comfort theory. In The comfort line." 2010. 10 November 2012 < http://www.thecomfortline.com/>. —. Comfort theory and practice: a vision for holistic health care and research. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2003. Kolcaba, K.Y and R.J Kolcaba. ". (1991). An analysis of the concept of comfort. ), ." Journal of Advanced Nursing, 16(11 (1991): 1301-1310. . Read More