If you can’t afford to spend two years completing a comprehensive medical secretary program, then you’re going to need a way to choose those courses that will do you the most good. So, what training courses are the most relevant to a medical secretary? Here is a list of the top eight.
1. MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY
Even if you already have some skills as a secretary, working as a medical secretary requires that you be able to understand medical language. In a doctor’s office, patients will tell you what’s wrong with them, and you will need to be able to understand what they’re saying so that you can pass the information on to the doctor.
2. ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES
A course in administrative procedures is important since you will obviously be doing quite a bit of administrative work, such as organizing medical records, booking appointments, and processing insurance papers. This will represent the bulk of your responsibilities as a medical secretary.
3. PHARMACOLOGY
It is useful to understand the words for a variety of medications. This is similar to the medical terminology course. Doctors will give you information about patient prescription to pass on to patients, and you will need to know how to pronounce the words, or your phone messages will be incomprehensible.
4. ANATOMY
More and more vocabulary. As a medical secretary, you need to know the words for a great many structures in the human body. Medical secretaries are expected to be able to read and understand patient charts, which are guaranteed to be littered with anatomical terms.
5. RECORD KEEPING
This course is all about how to keep files organized. Have you ever seen the huge wall of files behind the desk of the average medical secretary? Ever wonder how a medical receptionist is able to pull your file down from that mountain in just a few seconds? It’s all about organization. A well-run office must be very well organized.
6. TRANSCRIPTION
Some doctors record their voice instead of writing down notes, in which case you may be called upon to transcribe those recordings into digital form. If it turns out that you have a special talent for medical transcription, you could even turn it into an alternate career path, increasing your financial security.
7. ACCOUNTING
You may be responsible for tracking expenditures and income for a small clinic. An accounting course will give you the skills and confidence you need to make sure not a penny goes missing.
8. INSURANCE PROCESSING
Even countries that have universal healthcare have insurance plans, and getting money out of an insurance company is rarely easy. You will need to know what procedures to follow to make a claim, and how to appeal the inevitable claim rejections. This is another one of those skills that can be made into a career all its own. Having a variety of marketable skills will allow you to feel safer and more secure in the job market.
With these medical secretary courses under your belt, you will go far in your career.
