Tips to keep your medical office staff healthy

It’s important to keep your staff healthy because healthy employees are able to be more attentive to your patients. Your staff will take less sick days off work.  And healthy, less stressed employees are better and happier at their jobs. Here are some common sense tips to keep your staff healthy:

• Use masks and gloves when dealing with sick patients
• Have hand sanitizers available to staff and patients throughout the office, in waiting areas, and exam rooms.
• Sanitize door knobs, phones, and rooms daily.
• Provide staff and their family’s seasonal flu and other vaccines at no charge
• Encourage staff to stay home if they are sick
• Offer paid sick time
• Provide masks for sick patients at check-in and throughout the office
• Try to isolate contagious patients quickly and identify them from others. 
• Provide education by meeting with staff and giving them the information to make good decisions for themselves and their families
• Provide employee assistance programs as part of the employee benefit package, which includes counseling and programs for healthy living

Not creating a culture of good health by focusing on the facility and its staff solely as a business, instead of a place of health and wellness is one of the biggest mistakes a medical office can make. Remember that your staff is an extension of the entire organization. Consequently, their health and well-being is a direct reflection of your facility and how you handle patient care as a whole.