As if John Garten-Shuman’s job as Vice President of Enrollment and Student Services at Samuel Merritt College wasn’t complex enough. Heis responsible, in part, for assisting in the coordination of student clinical rotations through the required background check process at the college, which is a fully accredited health sciences institution located in Oakland, California. The school offers undergraduate degrees in nursing, master’s degrees in nursing, physician assistant and occupational therapy, and doctoral degrees in physical therapy and podiatric medicine.
In 2004 the complexity of Garten-Shuman’s position increased when a Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO) standard went into effect requiring background checks for all students, employees, staff and volunteers who supervise care, render treatment and provide services at healthcare facilities nationwide.
To comply with JCAHO, all Samuel Merritt students are required to undergo a background check for security clearances in order to matriculate into the institution’s majors that mandate a clinical rotation at a healthcare facility.
Specifically, the directive means the faculty involved in coordinating student clinical rotations have to supply the results (or a certification concerning the results) of each student background check to the appropriate healthcare facility for each clinical rotation. It’s a daunting task that involves securing student consent forms, coordinating each background investigation, reviewing hard copy and online reports, disseminating the appropriate information to clinical coordinators at the college (who in turn notify the appropriate clinical preceptors at each site), and warehousing reports for future reference, if needed.
With more than 700 clinical affiliations throughout California and roughly 1,100 students participating in off campus clinical rotations annually, Garten-Shuman went outside the college for background screening help. "Sutter Health, our parent company, has worked closely with Corporate Screening Services for their background investigations, so the company came highly recommended," says Garten-Shuman. "Since our affiliation with Corporate Screening in late 2004, we’ve been getting service that has far exceeded our expectations."
To ensure Samuel Merritt’s complete compliance with federal and school-established directives, Corporate Screening established a student screening program that achieved several objectives, including:
• Meeting the contractual obligations contained in affiliation agreements between the college and the various healthcare facilities.
• Securing due diligence and competency assessments of all individuals who have contact with patients or research participants.
• Ensuring uniform compliance with JCAHO standards and agency regulations pertaining to human resource management.
• Meeting the public demands for greater diligence in light of the national reports on deaths resulting from medical malpractice and medical errors.
"Corporate Screening presents a nice package that enables us to secure the basic background checks we require for multiple geographic locations, if needed," comments Garten-Shuman. "Since Samuel Merritt students come from all over the country we need a source for background checks that can access multi-state records. And Corporate Screening provides that service."
"Corporate Screening has been extremely responsive to our needs," he continues. "They call with questions if needed and work beyond our standards. They’ll look at each individual clinical contract – and the wording on those contracts – to make sure we’re complying not only with JCAHO requirements but those of each clinical site. And they’ll supply any additional information required to get the job done and done right." Garten-Shuman credits the assistance of a background screening company with being able to provide the proper student for each clinical site and scenario, saying that a thorough investigation can identify potential problems or uncover information that students may have omitted from their applications.
"A thorough background check eliminates the liability on the clinical side of hiring students who have questionable backgrounds," he notes, "and allows us to identify those problems at the school level before they can become potential issues on the clinical end."
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Corporate Screening serves a nationwide client base with pre-employment screening, business investigations, background checks and executive level investigative services that are designed to provide up-to-the-minute information on job candidates, current employees and business associates.
To learn more, visit CorporateScreening.com