You are the director of human resources at Ballas Health, a healthcare network that treats 30,000 inpatients and 350,000 outpatients annually. Ballas Health has one hospital campus, five medical clinics and two urgent care centers.
In addition to the 5,000 total employees at the Ballas Health location, the volunteer department oversees approximately 200 volunteers that work on the hospital campus. The volunteers apply to work in various positions around the campus: gift shop, greeter, floor/department help, wheelchair transport, shuttle transport, mail and floral delivery, laundry distribution and surgery kit assemblers.
The one-time application for volunteers involves providing personal information including social security number to allow for background checks. Volunteers must also pass a one-time drug test and be fingerprinted. Potential volunteers sign the application agreeing to follow patient privacy laws such as HIPAA and to maintain a safe environment for all patients.
Once the volunteer application is approved and background checks and drug testing have been administered and passed, the applicant becomes an official volunteer at Ballas Health. The volunteers then meet with the volunteer department to determine specific duties and shifts. A typical volunteer shift is one or two days a week for three hours.
The volunteer program has been in operation for over a decade and has been extremely successful. In the past three years, however, there have been issues with various volunteers. The following examples have been noted as most common:
- Greeters and/or wheelchair transports assisting at the Patient Check-in Kiosk. While the volunteers feel they are helping, the patient information displayed on the kiosk is confidential and includes date of birth, insurance information and type of appointment.
- Volunteers greeting patients by asking, “What brings you in today?” This question puts patients in a position to either answer with personal/private information or to ignore the volunteer question.
In addition, there have been two suspicions in the past year of volunteers showing up for their shift under-the-influence of alcohol. The volunteer director sent the suspected volunteers home immediately.
The director of the volunteer program wants your help in determining how to discipline and terminate volunteers. Since the volunteers are not employees of Ballas Health, there are no official steps in disciplining or terminating volunteers. In the past, the relationship between Ballas Health and volunteers has ended when the volunteer-initiated termination.
