Working in the medical field already???

DoneIn08 · Aug 12, 2006

I too am a clerk.. My title is Health Unit Coordinator...

mysterious_one, ASN, RN · Aug 12, 2006

In my opinion, it can have some good benefits and bad. Good, because you will get acustomed to the medical field and environement, and obviously learn alot, and you won't be to scared with all the new and unknown. Bad, because of the things you might have learned a certain way and that have become a habit and now in nursing school , you will be taught differently; and that might be hard for some to adjust. ( I have been a nurse in Germany , so I have come to feel that). Overall it helps a lot of people, just don't get stuck with bad habits and insist on those.

traumaQN · Aug 12, 2006

I currently work in assisted living, where we basically do everything (get-ups, showers, meds, laundry, serve meals).

wutsupitsme · Aug 13, 2006

I was a combat medic in the army, so I have already done alot of medical training. I have done sutures, to vasectomys, to C-sections, all kinds of stuff. At first I thought that all of this knowledge would help me, but now I think it will hinder me, because we did everything so differently. I am afraid my instructors will tell me a certain way to do something, and it will be hard for me to change my ways..........we'll see..I start my ADN at the end of this month.

JoshuaC · Aug 13, 2006

For the record there is a difference between medical and healthcare. Just throwing that out there.

nursemama2be · Aug 13, 2006

sorry didn't even think about the difference between medical and healthcare... i should know better to not work a double and come on here close to midnight and attempt to make sense...

so anyone else out there in the healthcare field????

don't quit · Aug 13, 2006

I just have one question, how do you cypher Dr.'s orders :idea:This seems to be my hardest task at clinical.

shellsgogreen · Aug 13, 2006

hi,
i was just wondering if anyone is already working in a healthcare setting now?? do you think it will benefit you in school?
right now i work as a unit communication clerk (big fancy word for ward clerk) and i feel that yes my knowledge will help me out in school... i can read dr's handwriting , i transcribe dr's orders so i get why certain things are being done and why things are being ordered, and its given me a background in meds... also my nursing colleaques are more than happy to quiz me... which they have been doing since i got accepted...
so what about you?

hey, i totally know what you mean...i've been doing work here and there as a medical assistant and the other there assume now that i know what ever diagnosis means (yikes! :uhoh3: )

figuring out what the heck the doctors order should be a freakin' course too; i hard a hard time for awhile, but i started my own little notebook of abbreviations etc....

nursemama2be · Aug 13, 2006

I have learned new ways to look at dr's handwriting in order to decipher it..

sometimes turning it to one side works, others holding it far away helps, i have one that if i hold it really close to my face it actually makes sense...

We have implemented new prescription program.. Basically the prescription pad is printed off with all of the patient's drugs which are being taken on the ward and the dr checks off which one's he wants the pt to continue and which ones to d/c .. then signs it and the pt takes it to the pharmacy.. we had alot of issues of pharmacists not being able to decipher signatures and calls kept coming in...

MegNeoNurse · Aug 14, 2006

Hey all!

I am a "Unit Secretary" in the NICU, which is pretty much what you all described as a clerk. Transcribing orders, labs (results, reasons for labs), diagnostic procedures, medical terminology, seeing patient cares, and just being in a hospital and intensive care setting I think will benefit me greatly in nursing school. The nurses and docs I work with seem to think so too. I have worked in the NICU for just about 2 years and have learned so much!