This article was originally published by Healthcare Business Today in Oct. 2024.
Nursing burnout has reached a critical point due to an alarming shortage of nurses. In 2023, the United States faced a deficit of approximately 1.1 million nurses. This understaffing and burnout crisis has led to a dual challenge: the urgent need to recruit new nurses while focusing on bringing in top talent to alleviate workforce gaps and maintain high patient care and safety standards.
Nurses have increasingly called for more manageable nurse-to-patient ratios as understaffing wreaks havoc on hospital systems. For instance, the Kaiser Permanente strike underscored the severe consequences of inadequate staffing, highlighting the need for more nurses to manage patient loads effectively. This shortage places unprecedented pressure on healthcare facilities to recruit quickly, which can lead to hurried hiring decisions and the risk of overlooking critical background checks.
Negligent hiring practices in healthcare have already shown dangerous consequences. Cases like that of a nurse impersonator underline the perils of background check lapses. Additionally, several care facilities have been fined for resident abuse and for lacking proper background checks. These incidents highlight the need for rigorous and thorough screening processes to ensure patient safety and maintain trust in healthcare services.
Screening Nurses: Finding the Right Fit for Quality Care
Hiring qualified and trustworthy nurses is paramount. Resumes provide a starting point, but ensuring a candidate’s skills and experience align with critical patient care demands requires a more thorough approach. This is where employee screening becomes essential.
Comprehensive employee screening is crucial to balancing the urgency of hiring with the need to uphold high patient care and safety standards. Advanced screening technologies and platforms now offer fast, accurate, and comprehensive background checks, streamlining the recruitment process without compromising the depth and thoroughness of assessments.
Background checks help verify the qualifications and integrity of new hires, ensuring that they can uphold the standards expected in healthcare. These checks typically include verifying educational credentials, work history, licensure status, and any history of criminal activity. With the increased demand for nurses, the temptation to cut corners during the hiring process is significant, but doing so can have dire consequences.
Beyond the Resume: Addressing Inaccuracies and Uncovering Potential Issues
Studies show a significant amount of resume embellishment, with 70% of employees confessing that they have lied on their resumes. This raises concerns about suitability and potential legal issues. Employee screening, conducted by accredited agencies, verifies education and employment history, mitigating these risks and ensuring qualified candidates are considered.
Traditional screening methods often lack depth. Partnering with an advanced screening provider offers increased precision and scalability, allowing healthcare facilities to tailor the process to their needs. This ensures a comprehensive evaluation without compromising efficiency.
Benefits of Advanced Screening Technologies
Advanced screening technologies offer several benefits that can help healthcare facilities navigate the current nursing shortage, including:
- Speed and Efficiency: Modern screening platforms provide rapid turnaround times for background checks, enabling healthcare facilities to make informed hiring decisions quickly without sacrificing thoroughness.
- Accuracy and Comprehensiveness: These technologies compile data from multiple sources, ensuring a comprehensive overview of a candidate’s background. This includes criminal records, professional licensure, employment history, and education verification.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Investing in advanced screening technologies can reduce the long-term costs associated with negligent hiring, such as legal liabilities, fines, and damage to the institution’s reputation.
- Enhanced Safety and Care Quality: Rigorous background checks ensure that only qualified and trustworthy individuals are hired, maintaining the high standards of patient care and safety that are essential in healthcare settings.
A Case for Consistent Background Screening
While the nursing care shortage poses significant challenges, consistent, thorough background screening during recruitment can help hospitals and care centers maintain the safety and quality of care patients expect and deserve. Healthcare facilities must view comprehensive background checks as non-negotiable, even amid the pressure to fill staffing gaps quickly.
Healthcare facilities must prioritize rigorous background checks as a fundamental aspect of their recruitment process to balance the immediate need for more nurses with the long-term necessity of maintaining high patient care and safety standards. Advanced screening technologies offer a viable solution, providing fast, accurate, and comprehensive assessments that streamline onboarding without compromising the quality of background checks. Ensuring the integrity of the hiring process is essential to building a resilient and trustworthy healthcare system capable of meeting future demands.
This information should not be relied upon as legal advice. Readers and/or companies need to consult their own legal counsel about their compliance responsibilities under the FCRA and applicable state and local laws.
