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unit secretary duties - viva

Posted: Jul 19, 2012

Okay, AFAIK, a unit secretary is someone who works in a particular unit at a hospital, usually, and handles all sorts of duties. That much I know. But lately, some of the ads for this job seem to be adding on other duties that I didn't think a unit sec. had to know: CNA; monitor technician. So now you have to be trained as a CNA or take courses in telemetry to work as a unit secretary?

I have found that too - more work, same or less pay

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Plus, they can have one person do the work of 3 or 4.

unit secretary duties - viva

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Well, that is just b.s. I was thinking of trying to get into that area but now I am having second thoughts.

Everybody's loss, no doubt. All basic clerical is becoming - very low pay. Added duties? Now, THERE

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is not only, very importantly, increased job security, as they obviously are developing instead of eliminating it, but to me work that's just more diverse and interesting.

I'd enjoy working in the middle of everything going on, but sadly, I just can't do a frying-pan-to-fire move to any clerical that doesn't require advanced education. This is the first information on unit secretary work that causes a bit of regret, though. For a lot of us, new challenges and opportunities to learn additional skills are good things.

Are you sure you wouldn't like being an indispensable part of a team that does meaningful work?

duties - viva

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At this point, I might do it anyway just because it would be a way out of higher ed, which is deteriorating rapidly and where I have never been able to obtain full time work.

What do you mean, Viva? Higher ed deterioriating? - Inquiring Mind. NM

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x

higher ed - viva

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I've been working in higher ed for 20+ years. Now, you can barely get any full-time teaching positions; it's more part-time than anything; many incoming students are woefully unprepared for college; the financial cuts are killing us and the students who are actually deserving; etc.

If you teach college, why are you looking at such low positions? - Wondering

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You can't be the same viva who has been posting on the coding board then, either.

duties - viva

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I teach college part-time and it is hourly pay with no guarantees from one semester to another.
I have been considering various options: transcription, coding, unit secretary, more.
I already passed the RMT exam and came within 12 points of passing the CCS. It's hard to know what to do or which direction to take. I know only that there is no future in higher ed that I can see.

Here is my suggestion - My take on it

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You seem to be unable to decide and making halfhearted stabs at a bunch of things. The minute you encounter an indication that it might be more trouble than you thought you give up.

While recognizing that there is no future for you in education is great, you need to come up with a plan of action that will get you somewhere.

What do you teach in college? Is that something you can build on? That is the first thing I would ask if you came to me for job coaching.

Second, what do you WANT to do? Are there things you do not want to do?

Third, what is available in your community? What are the local requirements for those jobs?

Fourth, how much education do you have? If you have a bachelor's degree, and I cannot imagine hat you teach college without that, you have better options that you are not considering.

Stop considering MT. It is not worth throwing time and money into minimum wage or less work. If you are not a success in it now, you do not have time to get up to speed. Not the way it is now. You can still use what you learned for the RMT.

Stop thinking that missing the CCS by 12 points is complete job failure. It is not. The CCS was not an appropriate choice following an adult ed course, especially not one taught by someone who seems to have been able to teach only the restricted job she did. If she never exposed you to the HCPCS code book, or to outpatient coding, she did not teach the coding that most coders do. There ARE many great jobs there. You need to recognize that more than half the experienced inpatient coders who take that exam fail it. Your grade is actually not bad considering that the exam is the most notoriously difficult in coding.

Looking at low-level, go-nowhere jobs is not going to help you find meaningful work. You might need to look a little higher up the ladder. Do you really see yourself as a bottom-rung worker? If you teach college why would you?

Why don't you take the darned CPC exam, which is the one you should have taken to begin with, and make a go of coding? From there you can move on and up. You can work while getting training to qualify for better jobs or different jobs.

You have already invested significant effort in this. Do not waste it.

One suggestion would be to use your bachelor's degree to qualify for the RHIA health information administration program at the University of Toledo. In about a year and a half, you would be an RHIA with VERY good job prospects. The coding and other training you already had would help you with several courses. You would hardly have to study for those. If you needed to take out loans for this, it would be worth it.

If your degree is not from an accredited college or if you do not have a bachelor's, you should consider the RHIA program in health informatics at Western Governors University. It can be very economical AND will qualify you for some of the best jobs in Health information today . . . informatics. And you will be qualified for all the rest of them, too, including coding. A Pell grant may be possible, but any loans you had to take would be well worth it.

I guess I just can't see why so many MTs think they are only good enough for rock-bottom, minimum-wage, dead-end jobs. You had to be smart to do MT to begin with. You do not fit with the kinds of people who typically seek those jobs. Now that you need a new job, why do you demean yourself and restrict your opportinities and choices?

It is one thing when others limit us, but I really have trouble understanding limiting YOURSELF. For anyone thinking they just aren't good enough or do not deserve a career better than ward clerk, all I can suggest is professional counseling. Get someone to help you if you hve low self-esteem or depression.

college, etc. - viva

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I am the same one. I wouldn't expect to be able to start out in a new occupation at the top of the ladder.

Thanks, Viva. Someone I know left teaching for those reasons. - Tenure was not possible. NM

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x

tenure - viva

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Exactly right. There are too many of us PTs and hardly any FT positions now.
I am also applying for editor/proofreader positions. I actually came very close to getting a position as a medical editor. Unfortunately, the job was too far away and they weren't able to let me do it remotely. (I cannot relocate at this time.)

Editing sounds good. Would doing some remote - editing work at all? Just to

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get used to doing it, make a little money, stick it on your resume, etc.?

remote editing - viva

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I've done remote editing for years as a freelancer. It's all over my resume.
If you mean medical editing, no.

CNA is not a duty; it is a skill set - sm

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There may be a misunderstanding about what a unit secretary does. It is not clerical work in the sense that the word secretary might imply. In other words, the job is not that of office secretary transplanted to a hospital ward. It has its own characteristics.

A unit secretary or ward clerk is responsible for all the administrative functions of a hospital ward. That is basically everything that happens behind that desk from patient flow to orchestrating testing and procedures to keeping an eye on monitors when the monitor tech has to use the restroom.

Perhaps years ago they just kept track of things with a card file, but technology changes and jobs change with it. Ward clerks now need to understand computer systems, procedures, testing, more complex hospital staffing structures, chargemasters and billing systems, and they need to be able to deal with the technology based at that central desk, like cardiac and other types of monitors.

In a job market where there is low unemployment and few applicants for jobs, employers are able to find people who are well-qualified for the job. They do not have to train.

If you are seeing CNA listed, it is not because the job requires you to do CNA duties in addition to unit secretary duties. It is because CNA training covers the same things that unit secretary training covers. The hospital does not have to train you in those things. It also reduces their liability because you have that training and will perform better.

It is just like coding positions. Ten years ago, you could find hospitals that would train you or hire you without certification. They would accept an adult ed coding class because that was all there was in some areas. They saw certification as an amost unnecessary option--something to satisfy the coder's need for recognition. Now, however, there are many more certified coders who are well-versed in all types of coding graduating from college and other college-level programs. Medicare strongly encourages employers to have certified coders. Facilities need to demonstrate their intent to comply with regulations by using only credentialed coders. The end result is that those entry-level "will-train" jobs that were happy if you merely knew what a code book was are gone. Anyone who wants to go into coding has to take a course that requires time, effort, and enough work to enable you to pass a credentialing exam. You have to look at the course graduates to see if they have passed and how long it took, too, because most courses are still operating on the assumption that employers will hire you from school and give you 2 or 3 years of OJT to complete your training so you can pass that test.

All jobs in medical care are this way. You can expect to need formal training and to have to start at the bottom in the new area.

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