Healthcare Staff Assessment – Empowering Recruiting

The Benefits of Pre-Employment Testing in Healthcare Recruitment

According to a poll from CareerBuilder and MiracleWorkers.com, 52% of companies in healthcare administration have unfilled positions for which they can’t find qualified candidates.

More than half of employers report that the most common reason for rejecting applicants is a lack of critical skills.

There are many benefits to pre-employment tests. They can reveal more information than simply reviewing a resume and an in-person interview, which is why managers across sectors have adopted pre-employment assessments as an important hiring tool.

Pre-employment tests can also help reduce unconscious hiring bias, because the test scores can be a guiding factor in the hiring decision.

Finding the candidates with the right set of medical skills can be challenging. Healthcare professionals must have extensive training and appropriate certifications to be qualified. In addition to professional competencies, many employers in healthcare also stress the value of soft skills such as attention to detail and communication abilities. All of these skills can be measured through healthcare staff assessment. Let’s take a look at some of its benefits.

Streamline Onboarding Processes

Onboarding new staff is an important final part of the hiring process. Onboarding is a new employee’s first impression of working in the organization, and it sets the tone for their overall employment experience. It’s the moment when new hires are equipped with the tools they’ll need to succeed in their new roles.

It is, however, a common misconception that onboarding begins on the first day. It’s instead a process that starts the moment a job opening is publicly advertised. Pre-employment tests can also be a valuable part of the onboarding process. By assessing a chosen candidate’s weak points and knowing them even before hiring, their onboarding can be personalized, and therefore, optimized.

For example, testing for a candidate’s Excel skill can influence their onboarding process. If they show solid basic Excel skills, but have issues with more complicated tasks, their onboarding could focus only on the aspects of the program they need help with. If their supervisor knows about problem points prior to Day 1 of employment, you can save time during this sometimes lengthy process. Both the trainer and the new hire can complete onboarding quicker and focus their attention on more important issues.

Tackle Turnover

Healthcare is frequently ranked second or third among industries with the highest overall turnover, including both voluntary and involuntary turnover. And turnover is extremely costly in the healthcare industry.

According to Health Care Management Review, the cost of turnover at one major medical facility was more than 5% of the total yearly operating budget. For many hospitals, that can be the difference between profit and loss for the year.

So, what strategies can healthcare orgs take to effectively reduce turnover? While turnover can be caused by different reasons, one place to start is with the hiring process. Because of the healthcare skills shortage, firms must make every hire count. Recognizing which job applicants are most likely to thrive there long-term can reduce turnover.

Pre-employment tests have shown to be very reliable providers of such information. Employers can make more informed hiring decisions by reviewing assessment results, which indicate the candidates who have the best long-term job success potential.

Which Tests to Use for Healthcare Staff Assessment

To keep a healthcare orgs running efficiently, healthcare personnel must have a wide range of skills and abilities. Whether the professional is a nurse, a receptionist, or a medical assistant, the HR department needs to know that they have chosen the person with the right skill set.

Our choice of tests to include in healthcare staff assessment includes five assessments which measure both soft and hard skills needed for success.

1. Customer Service Test – Although customer experience is important for any organization, it’s especially important in the healthcare industry. Because their everyday tasks focus on treating patients, it is crucial to think of healthcare personnel as customer service representatives. Knowledgeable and customer-focused employees serve the best interests of both the consumer and the service provider. The customer service test focuses on abilities such as troubleshooting, decision-making, and communication clarity, among others.
2. Attention to Detail Test – Attention to detail is one of the most important skills for candidates to have, as it lowers their risk of making mistakes. Mistakes can lead to higher costs, miscommunication, and fatal results. Pharmacists and nurses, for instance, must be exceedingly cautious with drug specifics and dosages, as the wrong medicine delivered at the wrong time might do great harm. On the test, a competent candidate will be able to show that they can recognize data inconsistencies, spot flaws in their own and others’ work, and accurately follow specific directions.
3. Computer Skills Test – For medical office staff, computer skills are a must. These roles, which include receptionists, medical secretaries, and medical assistants, cover a wide range of responsibilities. Their day-to-day tasks include scheduling appointments, collecting patient information, and processing paperwork such as billing and insurance. For these administrative tasks to be completed with speed and precision, it’s crucial for your hires to have a knowledge of computer programs such as Microsoft Outlook, Excel and Word. Managing files, entering data, creating spreadsheets, performing calculations, and basic email etiquette, should all be within your candidates’ skill set.
4. Medical Office Skills Test – To really understand your applicants’ technical ability and healthcare qualifications, you can administer a medical office skills test. This test includes subjects such as medical billing and coding, knowledge of most-used abbreviations, and of HIPAA compliance. For nursing candidates, a dosage calculation test will measure their ability to determine proper dosage.
5. Healthcare Aptitude Test – The healthcare aptitude test assesses applicants’ ability to provide outstanding patient care. There are two versions: the clinical version, which is designed for roles like nurses and clinical technicians, and the support version, which is designed for roles like non-clinical administrative support. Respect, interpersonal communication, quality orientation, service orientation, and patient-centricity are topics covered by the healthcare aptitude test.

Strengthening Healthcare Recruitment with Pre-Employment Assessments

In the current healthcare staffing crisis, it’s not enough to quickly increase employee count. It is also necessary to hire the most qualified applicants for the jobs. Healthcare staff assessment pre-employment not only helps improve morale and decrease turnover; it also, most importantly, enhances both the patients’ and the employees’ interactions.

Pre-employment tests have made it easier for HR managers to assess which individuals have the necessary abilities for a position, regardless of industry or sector. By avoiding hiring errors, hiring expenditures can be decreased by 5 to 20 times. This ensures better cost management within the organization, as well as saving money on any mistakes made by new hires who aren’t paying attention or don’t possess the necessary skillset.

EmployTest, a leading provider of pre-employment tests, specializes in developing pre-employment tests that help businesses find top talent and screen candidates that exactly meet their needs. With the option to use pre-made tests or construct custom-tailored tests for a certain role, it is guaranteed to help your team make smarter hiring decisions.