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O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 5
Attitude adjustment
Unless egregious behavior demands immediate termination, prob-
lem employees stick around for years, infecting your facility's cul-
ture with manipulation, sabotage, bullying or constant negativity
that drives valuable staff members from the organization.
Perhaps like us, you have behavioral standards tied to your facili-
ty's core values — compassion, excellence, and stewardship and
service, for example — which every employee agrees to follow upon
hire. But that doesn't mean they live up to the agreement. You can
and should attempt to correct troublesome conduct through educa-
tion, coaching, role-playing and one-on-one counseling to develop a
culture of respect throughout the surgical department.
When those interventions repeatedly fail, you can go down the road
of progressive discipline and eventual termination, but that may lead
to uneven improvement, if employees improve at all, and could spark
negative reactions among the physicians, who may think, They're
excellent in the OR, why would you get rid of them? I'm sure you're
also well aware that troublesome behaviors often occur out of sight
and earshot of surgeons, with nurses and techs the only ones feeling
the wrath.
Instituting a Decision-Making Day cuts to the chase: Do you want to
be a productive teammate or do you want to look for employment
elsewhere? You'll likely see a lot of shocked faces the first time you
send an employee home. Thoughts of they're serious about this might
reverberate throughout your department. That's good. You want
everyone to realize that being skilled in the OR isn't enough, that well-
rounded employees ultimately impact the clinical, financial and
patient satisfaction goals you set.
S T A F F I N G
