Question

The Case of the Phony PA

As a Senior Investigator at University Hospital, you were awarded a large grant to study the effects of new medications on healing leg wounds. The grant calls for either a nurse practitioner (NP) or a physician assistant (PA) who will be able to document the processes and keep the paperwork up-to-date on the grant. You interviewed several candidates and have found that Charles Tony, a PA, appeared to be the best candidate. His resume indicated that he earned a bachelor’s degree from a prestigious midwestern university, worked several years as an EMT, then went to PA school and earned an associate’s degree as a PA. He presented diplomas and copies of licensure certificates and had excellent recommendations from many reliable sources. This package was presented to you by the Human Resources Department. He was interviewed by several colleagues who would be participating in the study and was hired. He began work and appeared to be doing a good job. After a few months, some strange events started to occur. For instance, the locker he shared with one of the physicians was broken into. Multiple purchases were made on the physician’s credit cards in a very short time. Mr. Tony claimed his wallet had been stolen during that same incident. Other employees stated he was acting somewhat strange around them. He began dating an employee in the institution, then her apartment was broken into. At this point, no one was really suspicious, and Mr. Tony appeared to perform the functions of this job without any problems. Approximately 14 months after he was hired, he did not show up for work, did not answer his phone, and none of the records he was responsible for could be located. You contacted the HR Department and they began an investigation. To everybody’s surprise, you learned none of his credentials was actually checked back to their primary sources. When this check was completed after he disappeared, none of the academic institutions had ever heard of him. His references were all fraudulent. The police searched his apartment and found many missing pieces of University Hospital equipment. Mr. Tony was, however, nowhere to be found. It appears you hired a true pretender.

Discussion Question:

1.What are the facts in this case?

2. What errors were made in the hiring of Mr. Tony?

3. What are the merits of checking on the background of any employee, especially those entrusted with the care of patients in a hospital or clinical setting?. Whose responsibility is it to check the references?.

4.How could these events have been avoided?

5. Were there red flags that should have altered you to the problem earlier?

6. Provide a detailed plan for evaluation and verification of health care professional's credentials and recommendations to avoid this type of issue in the future.

Answer 1

1. The facts in this case are :-

- Mr. Tony was a fraud pretending PA .

- Mr . Tony had fruad degrees and diplomas .

- Checking credentials is very important before appointment of a staff

- Checking the reliability of references are also important

2.The errors made in this hiring process is the credentials were not checked properly . The staff was appointed before checking his credentials . Verification of his references made were not done . Getting information about the background of the staff was not done to know about his character and behaviour .

3. The merits of checking on the background of any employee, especially those entrusted with the care of patients in a hospital or clinical setting are :-

- Verifying the staff is trustful and faithful

- Helps to know the character of staff

- Enhances patient safety

- Safety and security of hospital documents

It's the responsibility of Human Resource Department to check the references.

4. These events could be avoided if the HR department had done it core functions of hiring process in a systematic way .