We are in the midst of a process engineering review of our preplacement with Recruitment and Team Member Health, given the significant increase in new hires due to the current staffing shortages.   We have never required a physical examination, we have our RNs review a very comprehensive medical assessment.

Some of our process improvements we are making:

• We purchased Adobe e-sign and converted our medical assessment to an Adobe document.    The medical assessment is emailed  to the new hire right after the offer is accepted (Recruitment sends and TMH follows up).  The new hire can complete the medical assessment electronically  and sign all required documents such as our HIPAA form, Drug free statement,  Tobacco Affidavit, etc.   The assessment is sent electronically to Team Member Health and the RN reviews PRIOR to the new hire visit with us.     If necessary, the RN will contact the new hire BEFORE the new hire appointment in our clinic to request additional medical clearance or inquire about accommodations, so we can have all required information before the visit so we don’t delay the start date.

• Heymarket texting program.    We are implementing a texting program for TMH to communicate with our team members for all clinic services.   We plan to use this service for communication with new hires to remind them to return for vaccines, complete forms etc.   We can send group text, forward text, save in folders, etc.  We have found that most of our HCWs respond to a text message over personal emails.

• We are temporarily relocating onboarding to our previous COVID testing clinic and will dedicate that location for new hire onboarding, including our contracts, team members, volunteers and medical staff.  We are developing “stations” for fit testing, blood draws, vitals/vision and drug testing.   We hope this will help increase capacity.

• We use Taleo to clear new hires for HR.  We do not hold up hires for immunizations anymore.  We give them a few weeks to get immunized and provide COVID-19 vaccination documentation.

• We are starting to outsource our screenings (labs, QFT, titers, drug screen,) for remote and out of state new hires who will be starting as soon as they arrive.   Medical assessment is done via telehealth.

Our Pain Points:

• Recruitment schedules new hire visits in our scheduling system.    The new hire MUST go to HR prior to TMH visit, so we have limited flexibility with scheduling as we can only schedule appointments when recruitment staff are available.  For example,  one day the entire Recruitment staff was at a hiring event and would not let us schedule any new hire visits, but expected us to fit the same number of visits into 4 days instead of 5.    We offered to schedule one Saturday per month new hire visits, but Recruitment staff will not work on Saturday.   We are working with process engineering to see if we can separate our scheduling from the Recruitment schedule. 

• TMH prefers limited outsourcing of screenings as TMH staff must still follow up with outsourced titers, drug screens, TB test and they take 3-5 days to return.   We have a “one stop shop” and complete fit testing, lab draws, vitals vision, rapid drug testing,  in one 30-40 minute visit and have 24 hour turnaround with auto population of some results.     Recruitment is pushing for more outsourcing and less vetting of new hires due to volumes.      We are working through this process also.

JoAnn Shea, APRN, MS, COHN-S

Director, Team Member Health and Wellness

Tampa General Hospital

Office: 813-844-7692

Cell:      813-789-3441

jshea@tgh.org

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From: MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh-bounces@mylist.net> On Behalf Of Thorne, Craig via MCOH-EH
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 11:24 AM
To: MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh@mylist.net>
Cc: Thorne, Craig <Craig.Thorne@YNHH.ORG>
Subject: [MCOH-EH] Streamlining pre-placement medical evaluations for HCWs?

WARNING: This email came from an external source outside of Tampa General Hospital.

Dear All,

We are reviewing our preplacement medical evaluations for HCWs.

We may not require a hands-on physical exam for all staff, and may base that on actual injury rates by department, etc. For all HCWs, we will review their pre-placement questionnaire (for indications to do a hands-on physical exam) vaccines, etc.

I am curious as to what others of you may be doing to make the process more streamlined, yet effective?

Thank you,

Craig

_________________________________________________

Craig D. Thorne, M.D., MPH, MBA
Chief Medical Director, Occupational Medicine and Business Health Services

(203) 687-5281 mobile

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