Do you allow “final” applicants to do position work to “see what they can do”? Do you expose “final” applicants to bloodborne pathogens? If so, you are opening yourself up to a possible law suit or legal action! This pearl can help you avoid that.
When getting down to the final one or two applicants in the hiring process it is valuable to have the applicant go to lunch with the team to get acquainted, or to observe the clinic and clerical areas to see what it is like to work there, but it isn’t a good idea to get them involved.
Some practices unwittingly have the new clinical applicant “get into the thick of it” and tie in a wire or whatever, just to “see what she can do”. This is a very dangerous situation since she is not a part of the staff and is not covered by your insurance, which can lead to lawsuits should she injure herself or a patient. You are also violating many OSHA guidelines that can cost you many thousands of dollars in fines and the possible suspension of your license, since she is not OSHA trained by you and may not be properly vaccinated.
If you want to test her manual dexterity, use the wire-bending test in the “Organization & Hiring Management Kit”—but don’t let her work in the mouth.
If being considered for a clerical position, you are still violating many OSHA guidelines should you get her involved, since she is still open to bloodborne pathogen infection and possible injury by falling or from machinery. Observation is helpful…but at a distance.
