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LEGAL UPDATE
and accounts receivables, remain secret, the manual should remind employees that all such proprietary information should be kept confidential during and after the terms of employment.
4. Rules of conduct
Since most of your employees will be in direct contact with patients, it's imperative that they comply with certain ethical guidelines, which the manual should carefully outline, from treating all patients with respect to not treating or diagnosing patients unless they're appropriately licensed. The manual should state that all employees are required to conduct themselves in a professional and courteous manner, or else face disciplinary action. Actionable infractions may include, but are not limited to, the following: failure to comply with reasonable requests made by a supervisor; sexual harassment; lack of personal cleanliness; disregarding safety regulations; substandard work performance; verbal or physical mistreatment of patients; falsification of time sheets; substance abuse in the workplace; theft or destruction of property; offering, soliciting or accepting bribes, gifts or gratuities from patients; or other disruptive or uncooperative behavior.
The manual should also set the tone for your facility's policies on smoking, appropriate dress, personal phone use, and e-mail and Internet usage.
The best defense
Unlike physician-owners, perioperative and business staff members aren't usually bound by contract to their terms of employment. But in an economically tight climate, former employees who were terminated or otherwise separated from their positions occasionally seek compensation through litigation or unfair practices claims. A comprehensive
