In a shocking story out of a Denver, Colorado hospital this week, an 11th patient has just tested positive for Hepatitis C after being given a dirty syringe by a surgical technologist who worked at Rose Medical Center where they were treated. For more than 8 months, Kristen Diane Parker assisted in surgeries and surgical procedures on more than 3,000 patients. Horrific situations like this are rare, but they bring to light the importance of employment screening services that provide drug testing, check for resume falsification, and perform thorough criminal background searches. The hospital where she worked is likely shocked by what they discovered about one of their trusted staff. However, it’s easier than they may know to see the red flags from a mile away.
One warning sign that they missed was that patients likely were reporting that their pain medications were ineffective. This is a very unlikely occurrence with narcotics painkillers; most especially with injectable and I.V. narcotics that are used after surgery to relieve pain. It is actually more common for patients to have an allergic reaction to a medication than to not receive any pain relief at all. Day after day, Kristen Diane Parker was taking a used, saline-filled syringe and exchanging it for the drug-filled syringe the nurse had drawn for the patient. In only 8 months, she swiftly proceeded to put over 3,000 patients at risk for the incurable viral Hepatitis C infection she had.
Another red flag that should have been caught was her past employment history. When someone applies for a job in the medical field, it is vital that their performance at each facility be thoroughly checked out. This needs to go beyond the Human Resources Department. They haven’t worked with that person one on one and are not aware of any strange behaviors that may have gone unreported. The HR Department can supply disciplinary records and see if the employee received any reprimands while they worked there. Instead, healthcare facilities need to hire an employment screening service so that resume falsification can be uncovered through the interviewing of references and former co-workers. This provides a clearer picture of the employee’s work habits and any suspicions from fellow staff members.
The final way that this situation could have been cut short is if the hospitals had insisted on a hospital-wide drug testing service to screen their employees for drug use. This is a crucial test to run on current employees because they have access to controlled substances. According to a recent study reported on CNN by the DEA, the rate of drug abuse in the healthcare field mirrors that of the general population. Put narcotics in their path, and the temptation is too great to resist. This is why current employees should participate in drug screening tests every 6 months as a part of ongoing employment screening required by the hospitals. The added plus is that healthcare workers who are abusing drugs can be removed from their position, receive treatment, and will no longer endanger the patients at the facility.
Learn from this story by implementing an ongoing employment screening plan today that includes checking for resume falsification upfront, thoroughly investigates a candidates’ references, and that requires drug screening on a regular and random basis.
