The hospital unit secretary is vitally important to the smooth day-to-day operations of the unit or floor. Unit secretaries perform essential secretarial duties such as answering phones, assembling charts, making appointments, entering patient data, generating face sheets, and so much more.
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Today's hospital setting is a busy place in need of industrious employees who can keep up with the numerous demands and multiple tasks associated with allied healthcare. Hospital unit secretaries, also known as unit clerks or ward secretaries, are staff who provide a variety of essential secretarial duties for physicians, floor nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other providers on specific hospital units or floors.
Duties
Unit secretaries complete an assortment of routine tasks that are vital to the smooth operation of the hospital unit or floor. Unit secretaries act as receptionists, welcome new patients to the facility, ask clients / families to complete specific forms, and assemble charts. Unit secretaries also apply identification armbands to newly admitted patients, input patient data, create face sheets, answer phones, arrange appointments, enter and take off new orders, file paperwork, notify physicians and mid-level providers of new consults, and handle certain non-medical queries from patients, family members, and members of the interdisciplinary team. Keep in mind that a unit secretary's full range of duties is dictated by each hospital's policies, procedures and job descriptions.
In addition to the aforementioned duties, hospital unit secretaries also operate office equipment such as computers, fax machines, phone systems, copy machines, scanners, and label printers. Good interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively are imperative, because unit secretaries will deal with many different people throughout the course of a shift.
Work Environment
Most hospital unit secretaries work primarily indoors in climate-controlled units or floors of acute care facilities. They do a reasonable amount of sitting but must also bend, lift heavy objects such as boxes and reams of copy paper, and occasionally walk to and from patients' rooms.
Educational Requirements
A hospital unit secretary can learn the essential tasks required of the position through on-the-job training. In this day and age, the vast majority of hospitals will not hire an applicant into the unit secretary role if the person does not possess at least a high school diploma or GED. Some unit secretaries have backgrounds as trained medical assistants or medical office receptionists. Post-secondary training that focuses on medical terminology, typing, basic computer skills, communications and business skills is helpful.
Job Outlook
According to predictions from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, medical secretaries (which would include unit secretaries) are expected to experience a soaring 41 percent rate of growth from 2010 to 2020, which is healthy when compared to the predicted 12 percent increase for all other types of secretarial, clerical and administrative assistants. The growth rate in this field is driven partly by the Baby Boomer cohort, which numbers 78 million aging people who will have complex health problems requiring hospital stays and whose records will need to be addressed.
Salary
Pay rates for hospital unit secretaries differ due to factors such as geographic region, years of experience, and different wage grids being offered by numerous hospital systems. PayScale.com reports unit secretary wages for the 10th percentile at $9.62 hourly while the 90th percentile were paid $16.45 hourly. For medical secretaries, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median hourly wage of $14.93 hourly and a median annual salary of $31,060 in May 2011.
