Background Screening in Health Care Industry a Matter of Life and Death

In the health care industry, patients put their lives in the hands of trusted caregivers every day. The importance of background screening for current and potential health care staff members goes beyond cost, compliance, and legal liability issues. It can be a matter of life or death.

Such was the case with Charles Cullen, a former nurse who in 2003 told authorities he had murdered as many as 40 patients through lethal injections during the 16 years he worked at 10 hospitals around the country. Would a more thorough and investigative background screening of this health care provider have uncovered his negative behavior patterns and prevented his access to patients?

The answer is yes.

To ensure the safety of both patients and health care staff, and to avoid catastrophic hires like Cullen, it is imperative that ALL health care employees – from doctors and nurses to the hospital's maintenance workers – undergo criminal background screening during the hiring process, and a background screening process should be ongoing for existing staff as well.

Three critical reasons why health care providers are strongly encouraged to have both prospective hires and their existing employees undergo background screening are:

• Danger to Patients: A prospective health care employee who has been convicted of a violent or drug-related crime is unsuitable for a job in close proximity to patients, as this situation could expose both the patients and the health care provider to enormous risk.
• Danger to Staff: If a health care employee with a violent criminal past is hired, fellow staff members are extremely vulnerable, as they are often busy caring for patients and not watching their co-workers. Instruments and medications can be used to cause harm.
• Potential Lawsuits: If patients or health care staff members are harmed as a result of insufficient background screening, they can sue the health care provider for negligent hiring. These lawsuits can be expensive and – in some cases – the courts may award compensation totaling millions of dollars to victims of workplace violence.

Health care providers are advised to follow the “best practice” procedures to achieve the most effective background screenings possible. Best practices are typically defined as the most efficient and effective way of accomplishing a task based on repeatable procedures that have been proven successful in achieving a desired outcome over a long period of time, and for a large amount of people.

Pre-employ.com, a nationwide leader in background screening services, has partnered with the Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC) to provide best practice guidelines and procedures for health care background screening in the article "Recommended 'Best Practice' Guidelines for Background Screening in Health Care Industry." To read the full list of guidelines and recommendations for background screening for health care, please click here or on the PDF link below.

For additional information on background screening for the health care industry, please contact us at www.Pre-employ.com, e-mail info@pre-employ.com, or call 1-800-300-1821; or contact Teri Hollingsworth, vice president of HR services for HASC, at 1-213-538-0763 or thollingsworth@hasc.org.

Recommended 'Best Practice' Guidelines for Background Screening in Health Care Industry (Adobe Acrobat, 125KB)

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