Patient Escorts at City Hospital
Human Resource Management
Individual Assignment
Patient Escorts at City Hospital
City Hospital is located in the heart of a large Midwestern city. It is one of five major hospitals in the area and has recently built a small addition for treating well-known patients, such as professional football players, top company executives, and singing stars. Visiting or local celebrities always choose City Hospital if they need treatment.
City Hospital has about 1200 hospital beds and employs 4500 individuals, including about 40 patient escorts. The job of patient escort is a rather simple one, requiring no special physical or mental talents. The work is easy, few skills are required, and the pay for the job is considered good. When patients need to be moved from one location to another, patient escorts are summoned to assist in the move. If the move is only a short distance, however, a nurse can move the patient. Of particular importance is the fact that patient escorts almost always take patients who are being discharged from their hospital room to the front door of the hospital. A wheelchair is always used, even if the patient is able to walk unassisted. Thus, the typical procedure is for the nurse to call for a patient escort; the escort gets a wheelchair and goes to the patient’s room, assists the patient into the wheelchair, picks up the patient’s belongings, wheels the patient down to the hospital’s front door or to his or her car in the parking lot, and returns to the work station.
The job of patient escort is indeed critical to the hospital since the escort is always the last hospital representative the patient sees, and hence has a considerable influence on the patient’s perception of the hospital. Of approximately 40 escorts, about three-fourths are men, and one-fourth are women. Most are high school graduates in their early twenties. Some, particularly those on the early morning shift, are attending college at night and working for the hospital to earn
Individual Assignment
Patient Escorts at City Hospital
City Hospital is located in the heart of a large Midwestern city. It is one of five major hospitals in the area and has recently built a small addition for treating well-known patients, such as professional football players, top company executives, and singing stars. Visiting or local celebrities always choose City Hospital if they need treatment.
City Hospital has about 1200 hospital beds and employs 4500 individuals, including about 40 patient escorts. The job of patient escort is a rather simple one, requiring no special physical or mental talents. The work is easy, few skills are required, and the pay for the job is considered good. When patients need to be moved from one location to another, patient escorts are summoned to assist in the move. If the move is only a short distance, however, a nurse can move the patient. Of particular importance is the fact that patient escorts almost always take patients who are being discharged from their hospital room to the front door of the hospital. A wheelchair is always used, even if the patient is able to walk unassisted. Thus, the typical procedure is for the nurse to call for a patient escort; the escort gets a wheelchair and goes to the patient’s room, assists the patient into the wheelchair, picks up the patient’s belongings, wheels the patient down to the hospital’s front door or to his or her car in the parking lot, and returns to the work station.
The job of patient escort is indeed critical to the hospital since the escort is always the last hospital representative the patient sees, and hence has a considerable influence on the patient’s perception of the hospital. Of approximately 40 escorts, about three-fourths are men, and one-fourth are women. Most are high school graduates in their early twenties. Some, particularly those on the early morning shift, are attending college at night and working for the hospital to earn