Business Management

The following position descriptions are provided as a template to assist you to customise a position description specific to your practice and the role. 

When specific roles and responsibilities are agreed to and documented (eg in position descriptions):

• The practice can monitor each team member’s performance against their role’s requirements, and determine whether any support and training is required
• Each team member knows who they are reporting to for each duty or responsibility
• Each team member knows who is responsible for each aspect of the practice’s operations (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion C3.2)

• Nurse Practitioner (Template)
• Practice Nurse (Template)
• Practice Manager (Template)
• Medical Receptionist (Template)

The objectives of performance monitoring are to assess the performance of an individual and to determine how the practice team would benefit from further training and development. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion C3.2)

• Nurse Practitioner (Template)
• Practice Manager (Template)
• Practice Nurse (Template)
• Medical Receptionist (Template)

An induction program must be a routine part of employment, so that all new practitioners and other practice team members understand:

• The principles and policies under which the practice operates
• The day-to-day operations of the practice
• Workplace health and safety issues
• The processes for maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of patients’ health information
• The systems used to identify and manage emergency patients who come to, or contact, the practice (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion C3.2)

• Employment Contracts and Agreements (Fact Sheet)
• Fair Work Information Statement
• Fair Work Ombudsman (Fact Sheet)
• Practice Manager Induction (Template)
• New General Practitioner Orientation Checklist (Fact Sheet)
• When a GP is leaving your practice (Fact Sheet)

Each practice owner/manager is responsible for providing a safe working environment. This includes being genuinely committed to the health, safety and wellbeing of the whole practice team. The practice owner/manager is obliged to meet their responsibilities as an employer by adhering to relevant federal and state/territory workplace health and safety (WHS) laws. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion C3.5)

• Hazard Observation Action Plan (Template)
• Policies and Procedures for Infection Control in the General Practice Setting (Resource)
• How to manage a staff needlestick injury (Guide)
• Worksafe WA resources (Link)

Having systems with clear lines of accountability and responsibility is part of good governance and the delivery of safety and quality care of patients.

It is important to keep patients and the practice team safe from infection. Infection prevention and control reduces the risk of infection travelling from patient to patient, or from patient to members of the practice team. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion GP4)

• Spills Kit checklist and method for cleaning spills (checklist)
• How to Handwash/Handrub (Resources)

Managing safety and risk is part of quality assurance, and therefore is a significant part of practice management. Clinical risks need to be managed, but so too do business risks, because if the business fails, the practice will not be able to provide clinical care. A risk management process helps you to consistently identify, document and manage business risks. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion 3)

• Business Risk Management System (Template)

If your practice uses computers to store patient health information, you must have a business continuity plan to protect information in the event of an adverse incident, such as a system crash or power failure. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion C3.1,C6.4)

• Moving Premises or Change of a Business Name (Checklist)
• Information Security in General Practice

If your practice is prepared for an emergency, you are more likely to provide effective continuity of care for your patients, and to continue operating your business as smoothly as possible. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion C3.3)

• General Practice Emergency Response Plan (Fact Sheet)

Patients have the right to make informed decisions about their health, medical treatments, referrals and procedures. You have a duty to provide information that the patient can understand, and that is tailored to their individual needs. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion C1.3)

• Refusal of treatment against medical advice (Template)

Clinical handover needs to occur whenever there is a transfer of care from one provider to another​.

Clinical handover of patient care, to other members of the clinical team and to external care providers, occurs frequently in a practice. Lack of, or inadequate, transfer of care is a major risk to patient safety. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion C5.3)

• Clinical Handover Policy Template (Template)

Patient safety incidents in clinical care occur in all health settings. If you use systems to recognise and analyse near misses and adverse events, you can identify, implement, and test solutions to prevent them happening again. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion QI3.1, QI3.2)

• Clinical Risk Management Systems Template (Template)
• General Practice Open Disclosure Policy (Template)

By working cooperatively with other healthcare providers and services, you can provide optimal care to patients whose healthcare requires integration of multiple services. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion GP2.3)

• Pharmacy Dispensing in a Rural or Remote General Practice (Fact Sheet)

All patients need to be able to access information about the practice, including the range and cost of services provided by the practice.

You can provide this information in many formats, such as printed information sheets and text on the practice’s website. Pictures and simple language versions help patients who would otherwise be unable to read or understand such information. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion C1.1)

• Reciprocal Health Care Agreements (Fact Sheet)
• Managing No-Show Patients (Fact Sheet)

Respectful and culturally appropriate care is based on cultural awareness and sensitivity, which begins with learning about other cultures and cultural beliefs.

Patients have the right to respectful care that considers and respects their identity, body diversity, religion and cultural beliefs, displays an acceptance of diversity and promotes their dignity, privacy and safety. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion C2.1)

• Patient Culture and Ethnicity poster (resource)

Prioritisation of patients: a guide to urgency for non-clinical staff (POPGUNS) is a widely used triage process in general practices, which is suitable for all non-clinical staff including reception.

• POPGUNS Triage Process (Resource)

General Practice must collect personal health information and then safeguard its confidentiality and privacy in accordance with:

• The Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988
• Long-standing legal and ethical confidentiality obligations
• Other relevant state or territory laws (which may or may not be health specific). (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion 6.3)

• The Australian Privacy Principles (Fact Sheet)
• Privacy and Confidentiality Agreements (Fact Sheet)
• RACGP Privacy Policy (Template)

Maintaining the privacy and security of health information held by a practice is a legal obligation. This includes maintaining the security of computers and other devices.

As practices are increasingly using electronic communication to communicate with patients and other health professionals, an email policy and a social media policy will help to protect the security of patient information and the reputation of the practice. (RACGP Standards for General Practice – Criterion 6.4)

• Computer Information Security Policy and Procedures (Template)
• RACGP Social Media (Guide)
• RACGP Internet and email policy (Template)