Introduction:

As part of the administrative team in health information, directors/supervisors make important decisions every day. These decisions must be based on solid information. In relation to personnel, these decisions must also be defensible in court. This assignment provides an opportunity to use the decision making steps presented as part of the course planning unit, as well as learn more about the organizing of individual positions into job descriptions.

SCENARIO:

You are the Director of the Health Information Department of Rogers Hospital. The Department includes 152 employees on three shifts. There is a vacancy for the Department's receptionist/administrative assistant. This is a full-time, day position. This Administrative Assistant II position is responsible for greeting all visitors to the Department, using independent judgment in triaging visitor and general Department telephone requests and referring them to appropriate individuals within the Department, providing support for Department administrative projects and correspondence, compiling Department statistics, verifying all payroll and time reporting, and supporting other administrative activities as requested. Today you are interviewing two candidates that have already been screened by Human Resources.

Mrs. Williams is 36 years old. She has had five years experience in Health Information at one of the largest hospitals in town. The last two years on the job she was team leader for the processing section there. It has been almost ten years since Mrs. Williams was last employed. During this time she has married and had two children. Mrs. Williams' husband has been ill for the past several months and has been unable to work. This is the reason she has decided to return to work. Mrs. Williams states that her word processing skills are rusty, but she feels sure she can get back her original speed and accuracy in no time. She has a lovely speaking voice but her appearance is somewhat disheveled. Her clothes look like they could use a good pressing; her shoes need polishing and are run over at the heels. Mrs. Williams' reference from her prior employer said that she was a good, reliable employee and that they would rehire.

Ms. Jones is 23 years old. She is attractive, neat and clean in appearance. She speaks quite softly and has a slight lisp. Ms. Jones had been working as a secretary-receptionist in a two physician doctor's office. She stated she left there because she wanted to get into a hospital environment which, she felt, offered more opportunity for advancement. She graduated three years ago from a medical secretary program at the local community college. Her reference from her former employer stated that she was an average employee that they would hire again. She had frequent absences from work until four months ago. After that date she was not absent.

What do you do?

Objectives:

At the conclusion of this assignment done in pairs/groups, the health information student will be able to:

1. Appropriately apply the decision making/problem solving steps to health information situations.

2. Write a defensible job description for a health information function.

Assignment:

1. Using the case situation noted above and the six step decision making process provided in the online material of Week #5, evaluate the information and make a decision on the hiring situation.

a. Number each of your six steps.
b. Be thorough in your documentation within each step, but full sentences are not required in this part of the assignment.

2. Develop a defensible job description for this position.
a. Use the duties and position information noted in the case above as a starting point.
b. Add other reasonable information to present a complete job description.
c. Use information from your textbook and from Week #8 online material regarding requirements for a defensible job description.

3. Using information from the job description that you develop, design a Job Applicant Matrix for use in hiring for the Administrative Assistant II position. (Example of Matrix is on page 3 of this document.)