How do you become a medical secretary?
Asked by Han
I'm thinking of re-training, and would like to know more about becoming a medical secretary. Is there a specific course or qualification required - I've googled this and can see that Medical Terminology is one, are there any others? I already have pretty good administration skills.... but would these be enough? Also what are the rates of pay like, and is there room for progression and development? Any info or advice would be gratefully received, thanks you guys!

Best Answer:
I work currently as a medical office in the job that I do right now, and this is pretty similar to being a medical secretary, except with a medical secretary, there is usually more of a concentration on transcription, as well as the clinical and administrative duties. The classes that I took when I was in the medical office assistant program were typing, microcomputers (ms office -- excel, powerpoint, word, access, outlook), business communications (typing letters), medical terminology, medical billing, pharmaceutical terminology, clinical procedures, medical office procedures, Word Perfect, medical transcription, and basic bookkeeping. With the office experience that you have had within the job, you might be able to negotiate with the school on the business communication, microcomputers, and typing courses. The other ones I would recommend that you do, as some of them are complex, and would be hard to challenge. The office component parts, like the ones that I mentioned in the office experience there, you might be able to challenge. The pay rate depending on where you live could be between 13 and 25 an hour for this position to start. I hope that this helps you.

A medical secretary can expect about the same duties as any other secretary, i.e. typing, filing, answering phones, etc. Just the regular secretarial skills are necessary along with a course in medical terminology to handle the more esoteric medical stuff. My understanding, from talking with some of the secretaries at a hospital, the pay is pretty bad unless you arive at some kind of supervisory position. It varies a lot of course. If you are in the typing pool, you won't get paid as much as the company president's secretary.
Answered by Rick M

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