It has been brought to my attention (clinical team lead) that one employee is doing some things that are making the other employees frustrated. Setting is in a dental office, what is being said about said employee is that he or she is grabbing the easy patients, ones without X-rays, seeing the younger patients/picking or choosing which patients they want. How do I address this with said employee if I haven’t seen it myself?
-
Does your dental office have cameras installed at the receptionist desk and above the hallway ? If yes, then maybe, you can review the videos recorded by the cameras to see what is going on.– Job_September_2020Commented Jun 25 at 4:40
-
6Sounds like a manager problem. Are you the manager?– DonaldCommented Jun 25 at 4:54
-
1How are your incentives? Is there a benefit for said employee taking the easier patients? Will he or she get a bigger bonus if employee sees more patients in a day?– Pieter BCommented Jun 25 at 7:05
-
1@Dakota - So talk to the manager. Explain that you have heard something concering. Ask for their approval to investigate if the information is something that can be act upon. However, it should be easy to verify yourself, look through the customer records to determine if the employee is indeed getting a specific type of customer. Sounds like something that would take 20 minutes to verify. It really sounds like a problem for the manager to invesigate and solve if the manager believes it to be an actual problem.– DonaldCommented Jun 25 at 14:55
-
2Are the choices made endangering patient health and safety in any way? Are their care being impaired? This info helps to determine problem severity– AnthonyCommented Jun 26 at 0:04
|
Show 2 more comments
2 Answers
Don't go by the report; it may be wrong. Take it as a starting point, gather evidence, then act on that evidence.
Or simply don't allow any choice. Schedule patients to specific technicians when making the appointments. If they have to see patient X this hour, they can't decide unilaterally to see Y instead.
I have many family members in clinical roles in health-care: wife as RT, brother as CRNA and sister as PA in outpatient dermatology office.
From what I heard from my siblings and wife, switching patients' providers is rather normal and not considered a material matter needing remedial action unless patient health and safety is endangered or their care, impaired by switch in providers. Some examples from your post:
Only picking patients not needing Xrays
Motive here is key. Are the dental hygienists / assistants doing so because they lack the clinical skills in ordering xrays / interpreting radiological studies? If so, this is a good thing as exceeding one's clinical competency endangers patients and impairs their care. These employees should be encouraged to expand clinical skills under adequate clinical supervision, but them recognizing the limits of their competency should not be held against them.
As long as the refusal to take on the more complex patients are not due to laziness, and patients are not endangered or their care , impaired, I would not take remedial action.
An example of where remedial action may be appropriate would be taking on a new patient needing specific care (e.g Xray, intubation, root canal etc.) knowing one's clinical skill is inadequate in that area and knowing clinical supervision will be deficient. My brother as a CRNA is skilled at certain intubation techniques and putting him in charge of more seriously ill patients is a benefit to his patients.
