CASE STUDY SITUATION: You are developing a department/work unit in a health information area of your choice.  

Traditionally, due to the geographic location of the facility overall, there has been difficulty in hiring experienced staff.  Over the past year, there has also been a high turnover rate.  During the exit interviews with these employees and conversations with current employees in the organization, it is your impression that the turnover may be related to improper hiring and training methods.  Comments received from the employees included:  "The job was not as I expected. " "I never felt as though I could ever meet the performance standards. This caused an undue amount of stress."  "I was always intimidated by the physicians with whom I worked."  

At the present time you are approved to hire one FTE in your area.  You would like to hire someone with at least one year experience, however, based upon past experience, this may be difficult.  

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

PART A 

1. Your first task will be to hire the new employee.                                                                                                         

What are 5 specific criteria the employee can be evaluated against to determine if they are qualified for this job in your work unit?

PART B 

1. What would a departmental training program for the new employee look like? Consider learning strategies. Describe areas such as:
   1. Objectives of training program
   2. Technique(s)/methods to be used in training
   3. Content of program (for your work unit)
   4. Method(s) of feedback, both feedback for the employee on their performance and from the employee on how the training process is going.

PART C 

1. What ideas, other than changing hiring/training practices, might be undertaken to solve the problem of recruitment and retention of experienced staff? What will encourage staff to stay?

Discuss what topics are considered "off limits" in interviews and list basic guidelines to follow during the interview.

What personal factors of the trainee may influence how the training process is designed?

 What are some of the reasons why training programs in HIM roles will increase in the future?