One of the most sought after jobs in the medical field is that of a Unit Clerk and/or Medical Office Admin. The position involves running the administrative and logistical aspects of a busy office and making life easier for the doctors. It is almost impossible for a medical office to run without a professional to tie together the day to day logistics and planning, which is why this is one of the most in-demand jobs across Canada and a popular program offered by Bay River College.
Beginning of a day of a medical office administrator
A Day on the life of a medical office admin begins at around 8:00 AM with arriving at the office. It continues with unlocking all the doors at the premises. The assistant then turns off the alarms and any other safety protocol used in the building. He or she then switches on all the gadgets used during the day including computers, tablets and monitoring equipment. The admin listens to all the voicemail messages replying to what is necessary while checking emails and relying on them. All the urgent messages and cancellations are noted down, and new fills made from patients that wanted appointments.
The doctor and the office nurse or nurses arrive at about 8:30 AM. They are greeted as well as notified about their schedule, emergencies and cancellations. The Admin then starts receiving the patients at 9:00 AM as per the appointments. The Office Admin first ensures that the updates on patient’s demographics and ACHIP details are on the records. It includes having any recently tests that are not on file. She or He advice the patients to go for lab tests to confirm this before seeing the doctor.
Unit Clerks and other medical office staff like nurses and doctors
The office gets busy from about 9:30 AM to 11 AM with patient registrations piling up. The admin processes all the received documents and files them for the doctor to peruse through. Current prescriptions are also files for the doctor to sign setting aside any referrals to deal with in all of the days. The phone is by this time ringing off the hook, and the admin has to multitask to keep the office running. The phone calls include sorting pharmacists that need prescription use codes. They are also include emergency rooms with the doctor’s patients and other doctors inquiring about patients with whom interests intertwine.
The Lifestyle of a Unit Clerk & Medical Office Administrator?
At about 11 AM the Admin registers new patients creating new electronic records, helping them fill out the necessary paperwork and dealing with any patient medication issues. Some of the problems include forgotten medication lists and medication details.
The worker then takes a lunch break at noon and resumes at about 12:30m. He or she proceeds to make calls scheduling the next day’s patients’ using calls, emails, and messages depending on their most preferable mode of communication. The admin reminds patients to bring their medical cards, records and any other relevant document for their visit.
How can a professional clerk handle appointments of an office?
Referrals are sorted by their urgency depending on the official guidelines at 1:30 PM. The admin makes the referral appointments and the instructions for each to the referring doctor. There are also chances that the doctor had forgotten important information about availability. Accordingly the admin has to readjust all the arrangements to fit the doctor’s schedule till about 3:30 PM.
It is likely that the admin will receive a high number of walk-in patients that require urgent care. The patients explain their problems, and the issue is handed over to the office nurses to determine whether the patient will be added to the days’ schedule or not. Patients are still being attended to at 4:30 PM and the admin has to stay to allow the doctor to do some overtime as he or she books more appointments, schedules lab tests, and bookings as per the doctor’s instructions.
A brief lifestyle of a Medical Office Administrator
The medical office admin records a new voicemail at 5:30 stating closure of office for the day and instructions on how to make appointments. He or she then locks down the place by first turning off all the gadgets and switching the alarm back on before leaving after locking the doors.
The Life of a Unit Clerk and Medical Office Admin requires a lot of excellent people skills. A professional unit clerk looks for these skills to handle the patients by problem-solving skills. It leads them to sort out tricky situations and to arise situations at work. The Medical Admin also needs to be very good at multi-tasking. Have a keen attention to details will help Unit Clerks to deal with issues.
Enrollment is now open for Bay River College’s Unit Clerk & Medical Office Administration Program, click here to learn more.
