Keeping Hospitals Safe & Secure with Background Screening

Hospitals are usually known as safe and secure places where medical professionals can perform their healing arts and patients can rest and recuperate. However, some recent stories in the news about a number of healthcare providers with criminal backgrounds uncovered during background screening have made these healthcare facilities seem less safe.

Despite these headlines, the vast majority of hospitals and healthcare facilities take the proper precautions with background screening while deciding who they will hire and how they will provide safety for their patients and staff. Recently, one of the largest security companies for the hospital industry offered some recommendations for increasing safety:

• Secure All Entry Points: To prevent intruders from entering, or anyone from just wandering around the halls, hospitals should secure all entry points 24-hours a day including front doors, side doors, loading docks, offices with outside access, and especially the emergency room entrance. Each entrance should also include a visitor check-in, a guard, and surveillance cameras.
• Patrol Parking Lots: Parking lots and parking decks connected to hospitals could serve as breeding grounds for crime. They should be well lit, include surveillance cameras, and have physical security guards patrolling for extra added security.
• Secure Patients’ Possessions: Patients' possessions must be properly protected in a secured, locked space such as a drawer or closet since they can be easily removed from their rooms while they are being transported to other areas in the hospital. Visitors should also be alert and never leave their belongings unattended in a patients' room.
• Update Fire & Life Safety Plans: Every hospital must have an updated fire and life safety plan. Employees should study and practice the fire and life safety plans on a regular basis so they know exactly what to do if a fire or other disaster breaks out. These plans need to include exit strategy for each patient room, clearly marked exit signs, working fire alarms, and sprinkler systems.
• Screen ALL Employees: Hospital employees must be well screened through a pre-employment background screening process before hiring to ensure safety and security of the patients and staff.

The last of these suggestions – employee background screening – is the first line of defense against hospital crime, since it protects healthcare facilities from the inside. To ensure the safety of patients and staff, it is imperative that all hospital employees – from doctors and nurses to the maintenance workers – undergo a thorough and professional background screening during the hiring process.

In the health care industry, the importance of background screening for current and potential staff members goes beyond cost, compliance, and legal liability issues. It can be a matter of life or death. Hospitals are advised to follow the "best practice" guidelines for background screening in the healthcare industry to protect patients, medical staff, and the healthcare organization itself from potential lawsuits.

A successful background screening process helps hospitals promote workplace safety, increase security for patients, and avoid the consequences of theft, fraud, injuries, judgments, damages, and poor performance. Background screening can stop hospital crime before it even begins by alerting employers to employees with past criminal records and related problems.

Pre-Employ.com – a leading provider of pre-employment screening services – has partnered with the Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC) and other healthcare organizations to provide effective background screening solutions and training in best practice guidelines.  For more information, please visit www.Pre-employ.com, email info@pre-employ.com, or call 1-800-300-1821.

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