When it comes to the most challenging industries to hire for, the medical field is up there.
When hiring doctors, you want to ensure that they are up to the task of dealing with critical situations when they arise.
When looking to bring on new nurses, you should only bring on board those that can handle communicating directly with patients and administering medications in time-sensitive situations.
When hiring office staff, you must make sure that they can handle emergency calls and effectively communicate what the problem is to emergency room doctors and surgeons.
Everyone who you bring in to your medical practice has to be held to a certain standard — one that is quite high.
The same goes for those you hire to be on your IT team.
A skilled and qualified IT professional is non-negotiable when talking about your Information Technology. Your medical practice is in charge of data from all of your patients. Your IT team is one of the first and last lines of defense against would-be hackers attempting to steal that private, highly sensitive information.
To help you with the hiring of your next IT team member, here are three things you should look for when interviewing an IT professional.
Ability to Problem-Solve
Perhaps the most critical skill an IT professional should possess is the ability not only to identify when an issue has come up but to figure out a way to fix the problem as well.
Any given medical practice may receive attacks from spammers and viruses almost weekly, so make sure that you ask your interviewee if they have experience in dealing with high-leverage situations at past jobs.
Not only should you be checking for if they have dealt with severe problems in their past, but you should also be looking for how they went about solving the issue.
Was their approach logical and methodical? Did they get the job done in a realistic amount of time? Did they work with the employer to figure out solutions on how to avoid the problem in the future?
Those are all questions you should be looking to answer when asking about a candidate's problem-solving skills.
Flexible Enough to Assist When Duty Calls
IT can sometimes be a 24 hours, 7 days a week gig. That's not to say they must always be working, but it's vital that you at least have one IT team member on call at all times.
Stats have shown that many IT professionals work more than 40 hours a week (however, many of the extra work can be done form the comfort of their home).
Anyone you hire needs to be able to do the same.
As previously mentioned, hackers and scammers are chomping at the bit to get at your information. And these attempted hacks don't always happen at the most convenient times.
Even smaller maintenance issues, like rebooting or troubleshooting the computer system, need to be dealt with by a member of your IT team on the occasional weekend or late evening.
Experience in Working With Highly Sensitive Data
If you have a few great candidates in mind, use their experience working with sensitive, private data as a tiebreaker.
Working in IT for an organization that deals with important and private information is quite a bit different from working in IT with a company that doesn't.
This isn't necessarily a dealbreaker, as you have to get your start somewhere if you're interested in medical IT.
So, if you're confident about a candidate — even one that doesn't have experience in working with sensitive data — who is up for learning the ropes and skilled and experienced enough to handle it, then, by all means, you should hire them.
Why You Should Consider Outsourcing to Medicus IT
Here at Medicus IT, we have extensive experience working with private and sensitive data, supporting our clients' strategy and daily IT management needs around the clock, and we are expert problem-solvers.
We like to say that Healthcare IT is what we do. We understand the massive need for IT experts in the medical field, especially when it comes to keeping data safe against security breaches.
Our healthcare services include:
- HIPAA Security/Compliance
- Monthly Reporting
- Risk Assessment
- Application Integration
For more information on how we can help your medical practice succeed, check out our list of Cybersecurity services here, and our Information Technology Services here.
And, to get in touch, contact us today by calling one of the following numbers relative to your location:
Atlanta: 1-888-572-2201
Phoenix: 1-800-416-2740
Orlando: 1-800-641-8489
Or, fill out this brief form and we'll get back to you ASAP.
We're looking forward to hearing from you!
