The unit secretary job description is quite versatile and related to the field of medicine. They handle all the secretarial duties of a doctor, a whole unit or a hospital. It depends on the skill level of the secretary. The secretaries handle many duties that otherwise would have distracted the doctor and would have delayed their work.
Unit secretaries handle the paperwork and other correspondence material in the hospital or clinic. They design a filing system according to the information that has to be stored and then the file can be removed each time the patient pays a visit. The unit secretaries are the ones who handle the reception area and make appointments for the doctors.
When a patient enters a hospital, the unit secretaries hand them forms to fill out. If the patient is not in a condition to fill the form, the secretaries fill them on behalf of them. They gather their insurance details and get them admitted. If the patient is a regular and has an existing file, they remove that file and hand it to the doctor. If the patient is someone new, they have to make a new file and send it to the doctor.
The unit secretaries also handle the accounts if they are working in a small clinic. They handle the petty cash account and look after the inventory of the clinic. They order all the supplies if they are running low and get all the payments for the supply approved from the doctor who owns the practice. This happens in a small practice, but if the secretary is working in hospital, the duties change quite a lot. They will not be given accounts to handle as they tend to have professional accountants doing that. The unit secretary job description has lesser responsibilities in a bigger organization than in a small one.
In a larger organization, they have unit secretaries who are involved more in the reception area. They handle all the phone calls that come in and answer the queries of the patients. They handle the appointments of all the doctors in the hospital and remind them about it. They even beep the doctors when there is an emergency. The unit secretary job description needs them to handle multiple responsibilities that will ensure that hospital or practice runs smoothly. Read further to know about the kind of prospects they have in the future.
Duties and Responsibilities of a Unit Secretary
The unit secretaries get a good salary. They reduce the workload of the other staff of the hospital like administrators, nurses, etc. First, it was the nurses who handled such duties but later on hospitals realized that an expert's touch is required in this position and started hiring unit secretaries. The academic qualification that is needed is not that high, but the pay and benefits are really good.
Education Needed to Become a Unit Secretary
Career Advancement Possibilities as a Unit Secretary
Unit secretaries get seniority in the position they work in. They also get promoted to positions like head unit secretary where they have more administrative duties than clerical work. They also get good raises with seniority and promotions.
The unit secretary job description is to provide secretarial duties to the whole unit in a hospital or a private practice clinic. Though they may not be directly working in the medical field, they still reduce the work load of the people who are working in the medical field.