Your practice is a busy one. Your office manager sprints around collecting copayments, answering phones, filing claims, and doing the work of three employees. Finally (and just in the nick of time before she goes absolutely crazy) you hire someone perfect to fill the front desk position that’s been open seemingly forever. Hooray! Help is on the way! But … wait.

“I always like to remind people that even though [they’ve] hired this person, it’s not over,” says Carolyn Pickles, an independent practice management consultant. “Even if they came from another practice, every practice is different, and there’s a huge learning curve.”

Yes, someone has to train the new hire. And who on earth has time to do that?

It’s a common dilemma with any business: While there can be a lot of focus on hiring the right people, finding time to train them can often be an afterthought. Your reason for hiring someone in the first place was to lighten staff workload, yet the new hire’s arrival is no magic bullet. On the contrary, it will likely add to the burden, at least in the early going. And if you rush through those first weeks and train the newbie insufficiently, then his “rookie mistakes” will become chronic — maybe even permanent.

“A lot of people don’t realize the message they are sending when they don’t have a structured training program,” says Cindy Dunn, senior consultant from MGMA Health Care Consulting Group. “The quality of your orientation training speaks to your practice’s culture. Employees will work hard for you when you show them you care.”

Among the most common training pitfalls are:

• Rushing the process. By not taking enough time to teach a skill, you don’t allow a new employee to show competency.

• Not explaining the big picture. By not demonstrating how a task or job function fits in with the overall work flow of the office, a new employee may not appreciate the importance of performing it correctly and efficiently.

• Not sharing the mission. By failing to orient a new employee to the practice’s mission and culture, you don’t provide a proper beginning or frame of reference.

So how do you effectively train a newbie while keeping the office’s work flow on track? Start by remaining calm and patient. Remember that you were once a new employee, too, and that he is probably eager to please and even a little nervous.

Next, make sure you have a plan. Don’t wait until you have a new employee standing there watching as you get organized — do that ahead of time. The best time to create and document a training strategy is while the office is fully staffed and you’re not in hiring mode. Four key tasks you can do in advance are:

• Make sure your practice has a written job description for each position that lists all the necessary skills and duties. List each duty in order of importance to the position.

• Create a written outline of what each department does.

• Identify employees with good skills (and attitudes) who are willing to work with new employees to get them up to speed. To sweeten the deal for these superstar helpers, offer incentives to let them know their help is appreciated. “It could be a small stipend, a gas card — whatever. Just some acknowledgement,” says Dunn.

• Make sure all your training materials are organized and located where everyone has access to them.

With this basic foundation in place, the moment the new employee comes through the door on his first day, you will be ready to roll. And the best place to start?

The beginning, of course.

Orientation

Before jumping into the specifics of the new employee’s job, take some time to get him oriented to the practice. This means sharing the practice’s mission statement, the big picture, and where he fits in.