Whether you’ve hired a temporary or permanent physician for your facility, a comprehensive onboarding process is essential to not only the success of that provider, but also the continued quality of care for your patients.One of the best ways to ensure a successful onboarding is to start before the physician’s first day at your facility. Here are six ways to set your providers up for success:
1. Follow Up
Commit to weekly follow-up calls to answer questions, introduce a new topic, or share any news. This will help ensure that your candidate remains invested in your practice. If they aren’t hearing from you, they are likely being contacted by competing facilities. Stay in touch.
2. Provide Background Information about Your Practice
If you have a newsletter, share past copies with your new candidates to give them background on your practice. Alert the clinic staff, hospital staff, referral groups, and any other contract groups you work with that your new physician will be starting. Include a bio and photo of the physician if you can.
3. Share Information about Policies and Procedures
Send copies of key policies and procedures that might be helpful for the physician to review ahead of time.
4. Familiarize the Provider with the Layout of Your Facility
Send a map of your facility and the hospital, parking information, and the best entrance to use on their first day of work — yes, even the smallest details matter.
5. Introduce the Provider to Your Staff
Create a staff directory that includes photos and information about each person. If there are members of the community or hospital that the physician will want to know, include them as well. The more time the physician has to get acquainted with your staff, the better.
6. Make the Provider Feel Welcomed
Send a welcome gift basket as a fun and personable way to introduce the candidate to your community. Items can include a community guide, a T-shirt from a local team, a gift card to a favorite restaurant, or tickets to a local museum.
Making sure your new providers have the right tools, information, and resources to fit in and do their best work is crucial to their success.
Download our onboarding checklist for more information.
