Interviewing Physicians for Medical Staff Membership

Is an interview part of the application process for medical staff membership at your organization?  If so, is the applicant's time, as well as the time of medical and administrative staff leaders conducting the interview, well spent?  Is the ultimate goal of patient safety prominently woven into the process?

As has been discussed in earlier posts on this blog, interviewing well is an art.  I have noticed over the years that we take interviewing applicants for a job with a paycheck quite seriously.  We do our homework, carefully consider our questions, listen closely to the responses, watch for tell-tale body language, pay attention to the applicant's appearance, etc. We understand how important it is to select the best candidate for the position. 

Somehow however, when we're interviewing physicians for the privilege of representing our institutions as part of the medical staff, caring for, influencing, even altering, the lives of our patients, we lean toward a less structured method. We approach medical staff applicant interviews with a viewpoint directly opposite to the one we take for hiring an employee. Rather than working toward the goal of selecting the best applicants, we view medical staff applicant interviews as a way to help eliminate the really bad ones.

Sally Pelletier, CPMSM, CPCS, a Credentialing and Privileging Consultant with HcPro, suggests writing scripted questions to help your medical staff leaders make the most of the time spent in interviews in Tips for the Applicant Interview.

Having participated in a number of medical staff interviews, some great, some... not, I can attest to the value of face-to-face interactions with candidates. 

One applicant called me an hour or so after his interview to demand the names and titles of everyone who had participated. He didn't like our questions and had already consulted a lawyer about filing a lawsuit.  I spent a fair amount of time working with counsel on that one which, as you might suspect, did not result in a law suit being filed, but certainly offered a glimpse into the applicant's personality.

One of my most memorable interviews was with a world-renown specialist. His quiet confidence and humble attitude were refreshing.  He entered the room, looked around the table, and opened with "I am most honored to meet all of you, thank you for taking the time to talk with me."  His skill-set was unique and many questions were asked by the hospital's medical staff leadership.  He answered them all with calm dignity.  Had I needed to see a specialist in his field, he would have been at the top of my list.

Medical staff membership is a privilege.  It should be an honored one, granted to and retained by only the most qualified applicants.

Patient safety begins with us.

Comments

[Doctor Anonymous]

Great post. I've just been put in charge of our credentials committee - lucky me. I also read some topics on this on your latest HWR.

Keep this great stuff coming! I'm going to need all the help that I can get. I was tinkering about blogging about this also - at least from the personal side. No one exactly get oriented on how you do this stuff until you get "volunteered" to do so. Sheesh!

[Rita Schwab]

Congratulations on being appointed head of the Credentials Committee Dr. A! I'm sure your Director of Medical Staff Services will be able to provide some guidance and orientation for the role, however, please feel free to contact me as well if I can be of assistance, I always have opinions!

Rita S.

[Kathy Matzka]

Good post. I am always surprised when I speak across the country and ask how many people interview medical staff members and find that few hospital medical staffs are conducting interviews. You can't sweep a floor or clean a toilet without an interview, but physicians all over the country are being granted privileges to perform surgery and care for patients sight unseen.

I always recommend that, in addition to questions about background, training, and competency, questions reinforcing the applicant's responsibilities at that specific facility be posed. For instance: Do you understand what will be expected of you in regards to taking emergency room call for unassigned patients? Do you understand the meeting attendance requirments? Do you have any special interests that we should consider in appointing you to medical staff committees? Are you aware of proctorship requirements should your privileges be approved.