The job of patient escort is critical to the hospital since
the escort is always the last hospital representative the patient sees, and
hence has a considerable influence on the patient's perception of the hospital.
Of the approximately 40 escorts, about three-fourths are men, and one-fourth are women. Most are high school graduates in their early
twenties. Some, particularly those on the early morning shift, are attending
college at night and working for the hospital to earn money to pay college
expenses. Four of the escorts are older women who had previously served as
hospital volunteers and then decided to become full-time employees instead. Turnover
among patient escorts is quite high and has averaged 25 percent in recent years.
In addition, upward mobility in the hospital is quite good, and as a result,
another 25 percent of the escorts typically transfer to other jobs in the
hospital each year. Thus, about half of the patient escorts
need to be replaced annually.
The hospital follows a standard procedure when hiring
patient escorts. When a vacancy occurs, the Personnel Department reviews the
file of applications of individuals who have applied for the patient escort
job. Usually the file contains at least 20 applications because the pay for the
job is good, the work easy, and few skills are required. The top two or three applicants
are asked to come to the hospital for interviews. Typically, the applicants are
interviewed first by Personnel and then by the patient escort supervisor. The
majority of those interviewed know some other employees of the hospital, so the
only reference check is a call to these employees. Before being hired, applicants
are required to take physical exams given by hospital doctors.
Every new escort attends an orientation program the first
day on the job. This is conducted by a member of the hospital's Personnel
Department. The program consists of a complete tour of the hospital, a review
of all the hospital's personnel policies, including a description of its
promotion, compensation, and disciplinary policies, and a presentation of the
hospital's mission and philosophy. During this orientation session, employees
are told that the hospital's image in the community is of major importance and
that all employees should strive to maintain and enhance this image by their
conduct. After orientation, all patient escorts receive on-the-job training by
their immediate supervisor.
During the last two-year period the hospital has experienced
a number of problems with patient escorts that have had an adverse effect on
the hospital's image. Several patients have complained to the hospital
administration that they have been treated rudely, or in some cases roughly, by
one or more patient escorts. Some complained that they had been ordered around or
scolded by an escort during the discharge process. Others stated that the escort
had been careless when wheeling them out of the hospital to their cars. One
person, in fact, reported that an escort had carelessly tipped him over. All
escorts are required to wear identification tags, but patients usually can't remember
the escort's name when complaining to the hospital. Additionally the hospital
usually has difficulty determining which escort served which patient because
escorts often trade patients. Finally, even when the hospital can identify the
offending escort, the employee can easily deny any wrongdoing. He or she often
counters that patients are generally irritable as a result of their illness and
hence are prone to complain at even the slightest provocation.
At the hospital administrator's request, the Personnel
Manager asked the Chief Supervisor of Patient Escorts, the head of the Staffing
Section within the Personnel Department, and the Assistant Personnel Director
to meet with her to review the entire procedure used to select patient escorts.
It was hoped that a new procedure could be devised that would eliminate the hiring
of rude, insulting, or careless patient escorts.
During the meeting a number of suggestions were made as to
how the selection procedure might be improved. Criticisms of the present system
were also voiced. The chief supervisor of patient escorts argued that the problem
with the hospital's present system is that the application blank is void of any
really useful information. He stated that the questions that really give
insights into the employee's personality were no longer on the application
blank. He suggested that applicants be asked about their hobbies, outside
activities, and their personal likes and dislikes on the application blank. He
also suggested that each applicant be asked to submit three letters of
recommendation from people who know the applicant well. He wanted these letters
to focus on the prospective employee's personality, particularly the
applicant's ability to remain friendly and polite at all times.
The Assistant Personnel Director contended that the
hospital's interviewing procedure should be modified. He observed that during
the typical interview little attempt is made to determine how the applicant
reacts under stress. He suggested that, if applicants were asked four or five
stress-producing questions, the hospital might be in a better position to judge
their ability to work with irritable patients.
The head of the Staffing Section noted that patient escorts
require little mental or physical talent and agreed that the crucial attribute
escorts need is the ability always to be courteous and polite. He wondered
whether an "attitude" test could be developed that would measure the
applicant's predisposition toward being friendly, etc. He suggested that a job
analysis could be done on the patient escort position to determine those
attitudes that are critical to being a successful patient escort. Once the job
analysis was complete, questions could be developed that would measure these
critical attributes. The test questions could be given to the hospital's
present patient escorts to determine whether the test accurately distinguishes
the best from worst escorts. The staffing head realized that many of the
questions might need to be eliminated or changed, and that, if the test
appeared to show promise, it would probably need to be revalidated in order to meet
government requirements. He felt, however, that a well-designed test might be worth
the effort and should at least be tried.
The meeting ended with all four participants agreeing that
the suggestion of trying to develop an "attitude test" was probably
the most promising. The Assistant Manager and Chief Supervisor of Patient
Escorts stated that they would conduct a thorough job analysis covering the
patient escort position and develop a list of attitudes that are critical to
its success. A second meeting would then be held to prepare the actual test
questions.
(Applications
in Human Resource Management, 4th edition, Nkomo,
Fottler, & McAfee, South-Western, 2000, pp. 106-08)