A new employee’s first day should focus on learning the practice, not searching for passwords or borrowing a colleague’s login. A repeatable IT onboarding process helps your practice prepare access, equipment, and support before the first shift.
Use this checklist as a planning aid for your practice manager and IT provider. Adapt it to your software vendors and staff responsibilities; the exact access needed by a front-desk team member may differ from the access needed by a clinician or office manager.
Before the start date: define the role
List the applications the person needs and the tasks they will perform. Have the appropriate manager approve access. Identify any vendor-specific setup requirements and allow time for enrollment, licensing, or training. Give the IT provider a start date and a named contact for questions.
Prepare a named account and a ready device
Where supported, give the employee their own account rather than sharing another person’s credentials. Ask your provider to prepare the workstation, confirm required applications are available, and check the agreed update and security settings. CISA recommends keeping software updated; changes should still follow your vendors’ requirements and your practice’s change process.
Check practical details too: the monitor, keyboard, printer access, and any role-specific equipment. A short supervised walkthrough can reveal a missing permission before the employee needs it during a busy period.
On the first day: explain safe everyday use
Show the employee how to sign in, lock the workstation, use the approved password and MFA process, and contact support. Explain how to report a suspicious message or an unexpected sign-in prompt. Use training examples rather than real patient information when that is feasible.
Tell staff which channels are appropriate for sensitive information. General website forms and ordinary inquiry emails should not become a route for sending patient records or passwords to an IT provider.
During the first week: review what is missing
Schedule a short check-in with the employee and manager. Ask whether access matches the role, whether anything is unnecessarily broad, and whether a workflow still depends on someone else’s login. Record issues and assign owners rather than relying on a verbal handoff.
Use the same checklist when roles change
Onboarding is a useful starting point for access management. When a person changes roles or leaves, revisit the same inventory so the practice can adjust permissions, transfer business responsibilities, and recover equipment through an agreed process.
Keep the checklist short, assign one person to coordinate it, and improve it after each new hire. If your practice needs help organizing its accounts and devices, request a free 20-minute discovery call. Learn more about ClearPHI’s optometry IT services.
Reference: CISA and NSA guidance on common cybersecurity misconfigurations.
This article provides general educational information. It is not legal, medical, or individualized compliance advice. Security measures reduce risk but cannot eliminate it; changes to clinical systems should be coordinated with your IT and software providers.