What gets measured gets managed… but what exactly are you supposed to be measuring? Customizing clinical and non-clinical staff performance reviews gets you better insight and helps employees know how to grow their roles. Here’s how to use performance reviews for good (tracking clinical and non-clinical progress and opportunities) instead of evil (finding flaws and scaring people straight).
What Does and Does NOT Belong in a Performance Review
Before we break down the clinical and non-clinical staff performance review template, refresh your memory on what does and does not belong in a good performance review.
A good performance review, regardless of who’s being reviewed, isn’t a scolding. Use reviews to identify where work is falling short, yes, but remember that it’s also your employees’ time to shine.
| Performance Review Do’s | Performance Review Don’ts |
| Acknowledge a job well done and progress that’s been made so far | Base reviews on personal feelings |
| Identify areas for improvement and specific ways to make corrections | Only say negative things |
| Consider the entire specified timeframe | Focus only on the last few months and lean into recency bias |
| Set and measure SMART goals | Give vague unhelpful feedback |
| Ask the employee if they have the support they want and the resources they need | Compare people, not roles and expectations |
Write Everything Down All the Time
According to our risk assessment results, we found that about 7% of health and dental practices aren’t actually tracking their employees’ hours worked. They’re either giving verbal updates or they’re not doing it at all. 36% of practice owners don’t track their team’s shifts, either because the schedule is the same every week or they just don’t feel the need.
Putting aside the huge compliance red flags, this is a performance review problem. If you’re not tracking accurately and your employees are calling out all the time, coming in late, or clocking in or out too early, then there’s no record of what happened.
That means if you mention punctuality in a performance review, and your chronically late employee argues that they’re always on time, you’d have no way of proving otherwise.
On the other hand, if you have employees who are always picking up shifts and stepping up, you’ll have no record at review time. All that extra credit is invisible.
Put These Items on Your Performance Reviews
You could use one generic performance review, but if you want reviews to be more valuable, get specific about what “success” means for clinical vs non-clinical team members. This is the difference between a generic performance review that “meets expectations” and one that gets full marks.
For clinical staff, most practice owners will want to track:
- Patient safety and compliance checklists
- Room turnover and efficiency
- Charting accuracy and documentation
- Certifications and CEUs
For non-clinical employees, focus on administrative duties and how much work gets done. This will totally depend on the job description, but this can point you in the right direction:
- Scheduling and front desk triage
- Financial and billing management
- Patient intake experience
- Admin efficiency
For both clinical and non-clinical performance reviews, you may want to take note of these considerations:
- Punctuality, time management, and attendance
- Teamwork and professionalism
- Adherence to your practice’s policies and procedures
- Peer and patient feedback
- Certifications, education, and other learnings
Get the Timing Right for Better Performance Reviews
Gallup found that only 47% of employees strongly agree they know what is expected of them at work… which is probably because 56% of employees get formal performance reviews only once a year or less. The solution is obvious. Hold formal performance reviews at the right time, and check in with your employees much more often. Here’s what we typically recommend for both clinical and non-clinical staff performance reviews:
- Day 30: Check in to make sure training went well and your employee is settling in. Find and resolve opportunities for improvement.
- Day 60: Review your employee’s job satisfaction, growth plan, and make sure you’re providing the resources they need.
- Day 90: First formal performance review! Identify successes and opportunities for improvement.
- Month 6: By now, your employee is ready for another formal review, and this is a great time to update milestones along their career path.
- Month 12: After the first full year on the job, you know exactly what’s working and what isn’t. Make sure to measure both.
- Any time in between. Performance reviews are only uncomfortable if you make them that way. If you have regular check-ins and commit to an open door policy, your team can ask questions anytime. Then there will never be a surprise at review time
It’s All Set Up for You in HR for Health
Your people want better performance reviews, and we’ve got the tools to help you offer them. Use HR for Health to keep tabs on employee performance, manage your schedules, and track continuing education. It’s instantly synced with your payroll and your employee handbook, too. If you get stuck, check out our resource library, talk to one of our HR experts, or get a fast answer with our HR-approved AI assistant.
Try asking Harvey, “How can I track my nurse’s employee performance using HR for Health?”
Don’t know how to use Harvey yet? Ask our HR experts for a personalized meet-and-greet.
