1. Cross train. All ancillary staff (nurses, billing, reception, office manager, etc.) in the clinic should be able to fill in for any other position in the clinic when it comes to basic duties. Without tons of practice (and we don’t want you to have a lot of call-ins) your staff may not be able to do it perfectly, but should be adequately trained in every position. All new employees should train with each person in the clinic.

This should be done within the limits of safety and licensing. For example, in a family practice clinic it is likely that many of the duties of the registered nurse (RN) include supervising, directing patient traffic, and calling in prescriptions on the doctor’s orders. These are duties that do not require an RN license and can be performed by any cross-trained staff member. Keep in mind that sometimes, such as in a dialysis clinic, it would be less likely and possibly go against licensing regulations for the receptionist to step in for the nurse.

On occasion it can be fun and beneficial to have a “shake-it-up” day, once a quarter or so, where staff members draw a position in the clinic from a hat and take over that position for the day. This will give a refresher to each team member on the other jobs in the clinic (again within the limits of safety and licensing).