If you own a nursing home, your ability to hire the right people is a major part of what will help the business become well-managed and profitable. Of course, hiring the right people starts with conducting background checks on the potential employees.
Remember that when conducting background checks for the potential employees you want to work in your nursing home, you are required to comply with relevant privacy laws and regulations. You are also required to obtain the candidate’s consent before initiating the process.
Note that to get it right when conducting background checks for nursing home employees, you should look out for certain things that will help you get a holistic view of the person you want to employ.
20 Things to Look Out for While Conducting Background Checks for Nursing Home Employees
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Criminal History
You should check for any criminal convictions, especially those related to violence, abuse, or theft. Of course, any potential employee who has such a criminal record is not fit to work in a nursing home.
Note that you are expected to look into both state and federal criminal records when trying to get the criminal history of your potential hires.
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Abuse or Neglect History
Trust me, you may not want to hire an employee who has an abuse or neglect history. This is so because hiring an employee with a history of abuse or neglect poses severe risks in a nursing home setting. They can jeopardize the safety and well-being of residents of the nursing home.
Such individuals may engage in harmful behavior, which can compromise the trust and security essential for maintaining a healthy care environment.
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Professional License Verification
The truth is that some dubious people forge licenses to work in a nursing home. Trust me, you would not want to have such people working in your nursing home. For that reason, you must make it a point of duty to verify their credentials, particularly their professional license.
You must first confirm if the candidate even holds a valid nursing license in the first place. Part from that, you must also check for any disciplinary actions against their license.
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Educational Background
Apart from verifying the professional licenses that potential employees submitted, you should also verify the educational credentials claimed by the candidate.
Doing this will help you determine whether the candidate has the necessary qualifications for the position they are applying for. In as much as people can forge professional licenses, they can also forge their educational qualifications.
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Employment History
Anyone can state bogus claims on their curriculum vitae as regards their employment history. It is your responsibility to verify whether such a claim is true or false or exaggerated.
This is the reason why you must ensure you confirm the accuracy of the candidate’s work history, and also check for any gaps in employment.
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Reference Checks
Carrying out reference checks is part of what you should do when conducting background checks for your nursing home. You should not just rely on the references the potential employees submitted, you should go further to speak with them.
You can go ahead to speak with the previous employers and colleagues to gather insights into the candidate’s work ethic and behavior.
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Sex Offender Registry
Another important aspect you must look into while conducting background checks for a potential employee is the sex offender registry. This is very important because of the rate at which people in nursing homes are abused sexually by caregivers.
If you don’t want such to happen in your nursing home, then you must endeavor to check the national and state sex offender registries for any relevant information on the candidate.
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Drug Screening
To ensure nursing home employee candidates are free from substance abuse, you must implement thorough drug testing protocols.
You can employ a reputable testing facility to conduct comprehensive screenings, including urine or hair analysis, checking for a range of substances.
Apart from the one-off drug screening of potential employees in your nursing home, you should also engage in regular and random testing.
This is important because regular and random testing can help maintain a drug-free workplace, ensuring the safety and quality of care for residents.
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Credit History
Looking at the credit history of the candidate you want to hire in your nursing home is yet another aspect you should look out for when conducting background checks.
While not directly related to job performance, a credit check can reveal financial stressors that may impact the employee’s performance.
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Social Media Presence
In this dispensation where a lot happens on social media, your background checks will not be complete and comprehensive if you do not look at the social media accounts of potential employees.
This is why you must make it a point of duty to review the candidate’s social media profiles for any concerning behavior or inappropriate content.
Sometimes, by just reviewing a candidate’s social media profile, you will come across a thousand and one reasons why the candidate is not eligible to work in your organization.
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Driving Record (if applicable)
Please note that there are some roles in a nursing home that require the employee to have an official car or to even drive non-emergency medical vehicles.
In essence, if the position you are hiring for involves driving, then you must make it a point of duty to check the candidate’s driving record for any infractions. Hiring a candidate with a bad driving record can impact your business negatively.
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Civil Litigation History
Look for any history of civil litigation, especially related to issues that may impact the candidate’s ability to perform on the job.
The truth is that checking out a candidate’s civil litigation history during nursing home background checks will help you in assessing their suitability for the job. A history of legal disputes can indicate potential issues affecting job performance or interpersonal dynamics.
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Worker’s Compensation Claims
While conducting a background check, you should check for any history of worker’s compensation claims, which may indicate a history of workplace incidents.
An employee who always seeks compensation even when they are not qualified for it might indicate that the employee might be troublesome and you may not want to have such an employee in your nursing home.
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International Background Checks
The fact that some candidates may commit crimes abroad before applying for a role in a nursing home means that you must not restrict your background checks to only the country where you have your nursing home.
If the candidate has lived or worked internationally, then you must make it a point of duty to conduct background checks in those regions as well.
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Elder Abuse Registry
Some people are notorious for abusing elders, and that is why we have an elder abuse registry in some countries. An elder abuse register in the U.S. is a database that documents individuals who are involved in elder abuse cases.
The register is accessible through state agencies, it compiles information on those found guilty or accused of mistreating elderly individuals. To access it, you can contact the relevant state’s Adult Protective Services or the Department of Aging.
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HIPAA Compliance
Another area you may want to consider while conducting a background check for a candidate you want to hire for your nursing home is HIPAA compliance.
You must make sure that the candidate you want to hire is familiar with and compliant with healthcare privacy laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
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TB Testing
TB testing is no doubt a compulsory test you must carry out while conducting background checks for the candidates you want to hire for your nursing home.
It is one thing to claim that they have done TB testing and another thing for them to have truly done it. This is why you must verify that the candidate has undergone tuberculosis (TB) testing.
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CPR Certification
Anyone who works in a nursing home should be able to carry out CPR, and CPR certification is what will prove that they can carry out CPR.
For that reason, you must confirm that the candidate holds a valid CPR certification while conducting background checks for the candidate.
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Personality Assessment (optional)
Although this might not be compulsory, you may want to consider looking at the candidate’s personality makeup while conducting background checks.
By using personality assessments, you will be able to gain insights into the candidate’s interpersonal skills and compatibility with the nursing home environment.
The truth is that certain personality makeups are not suitable to work in a nursing home, and you do not want to have such persons working in your nursing home.
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Continuous Monitoring
Lastly, conducting background checks might not be a one-off thing hence you may want to implement policies for ongoing monitoring.
This is important because the situations and the employee’s circumstances can change over time. In essence, you must always look out for information that may make an employee not suitable to work in a nursing home.
Once you notice such in any employee in your organization, you should consider reviewing the employee’s eligibility to continue to work in your organization. If the employee needs to be fired, you must not hesitate to do so, or else you will corrupt the rest of the team.