Can a medical secretary be sued by a patient if she sent them the wrong lab work? I am doing a paper about a medical secretary who mixed up two patients lab results. Everyone says that by the HIPPAA laws, she can be sued, is this accurate? Or do they sue the doctor's office? What would the lawsuit be for? What disciplinary actions could be taken against the secretary?
Please help, I can't find much about laws concerning the front office staff! |
Sued, maybe some criminal charges, depending on how badly this mess up effected people.
She should certainly not work in this capacity in the future. |
Can a medical assistant move into medical secretary job? Also, I don't see many jobs for medical secretary. Are they mainly offered in hospitals? |
| They're not common. Technology is replacing them. |
Can a medical coder also work as a medical secretary? I am thinking about taking some medical coding courses and possibly being a medical coder but I am also thinking about being a medical secretary. I know secretaries should have some coding knowledge, so I thought I could become a certified medical coder. I want to be able to do either profession depending on job opportunities. |
| Yes in theory they would be able to, but you would also have to take some further training into more the office area, as medical coding is a very specialized field. |
Would having previous employment as a medical secretary make a good impression when applying to nursing school? There are many jobs in a hospital setting, doctors' office, or nursing home that would bring a person into contact with patients. I just was unsure if having worked as a medical secretary with patient contact would count enough to make a good impression on a nursing school application.
Can anyone offer advice?
Generally speaking, what are the previous job backgrounds that really make a good impression on a nursing school application? |
I have taught medical front office and medical billing and coding.
Absolutely it would make a good impression.
Think of all your transferable skills--things you already know that you will need.
Here are some off the top of my head:
1) Medical Terminology
2) You understand HIPAA and patient confidentiality.
3) You are familiar with patient charting.
4) You have experience dealing with doctors.
5) You have experience dealing with patients.
I've served as an Medical Office Manager over the years and trained a lot of new employees and students. It is much easier for me to train someone who has some medical background. New employees who had never served in a medical office I had to keep off the phones the first week because they didn't yet understand patient confidentiality! Even so, one time in particular an employee slipped--right in front of the doctor! The doctor and I both smiled through it but inwardly we were almost having heart attacks! As soon as the patient left I counseled the employee after the doctor went in with another patient.
One of the most important things to consider is this. There are two things I have learned I can not teach. One is common sense. The other one is attitude. I can teach skills. However, I can not teach attitude. You either have it or you don't!
So ask yourself---do you have the proper attitude of service? The lousy economy aside ask yourself why do you want to go into nursing? Why not computer programming, real estate or retail?
I would think it is because you want to help people, correct?
Years ago I studied medical assisting and worked doing front office and transcription. I went back to school and studied massage therapy. You'd better believe I did better than most of the other students. One had formerly been painting houses and another worked for the federal government. Of course there was also a nurse in my class but overall I still had a lot of advantages.
I knew terminology and the basics of anatomy and physiology. My instructor told me during clinic that I had the best communication with my clients that she had ever seen. I knew the proper demeanor and way to deal with patients. I understood how to document in the client's chart. I knew which questions to ask about their pain already. Think about all you have learned from your work. I learned a lot over the years from transcribing autopsy reports and psychiatric evaluations.
Know that yes some applicants will already be an LVN/LPN (depends on which state you are in) or be a CNA. However, ANY experience will help. Realize that right now there are a lot of graduates of medical assisting and other training courses who don't have any actual work experience.
Serving in the medical field we are held to a higher standard than other professions, as well we should be. Patients lives can be on the line. It is a very conservative field and you have experience dealing with it.
Remember you have a lot of transferable skills and certain classes will be easier for you as in you've already learned the material, at least some of it.
I helped my niece get into a severely impacted ROP medical assisting program. If and when you go interview for school think about things from their perspective. When my niece interviewed she was one of the last applicants of the day. She walked in, sat down and they asked her why she wanted to be a medical assistant. Before she could reply one of the instructors just lost it! She burst out laughing and couldn't stop. She apologized and mentioned it had been a long day. One of the reasons I think my niece got in was that she validated the instructor's reaction and said something like I can imagine sitting all day and asking the same questions over and over can get exhausting, or something like that. This had less to do with me and more with empathy on her part.
Go get them! Write out everything you have learned and rewrite, retype your blurb for your application until it is just the way you want it. You'll know when you have it just right. Once you write your blurb if you want post it and I and others can look at it for you. |
How to become a medical secretary? I want to become a medical secretary. I was thinking of taking a course of medical administrative assistant through penn foster online and then just applying for medical secretary positions. Do you think this will work? I also have a bachelor's degree in the liberal arts. |
Please avoid those private overly priced For-profit schools including penn foster which is not usually that expensive. There are a lot of negative posts by former students about those private $$ for-profit schools at these consumer sites including penn foster, and please heed the students' warnings:
- www.complaintsboard.com
- www.pissedconsumer.com
- www.ripoffreport.com and can search.
Please be aware that there are NOT supposed to be too many jobs for medical assistants (or medical billers or coders) despite what those private overpriced for-profit schools proclaim. If you're still interested in training, please consider the local community college or even county vo-tech school (or in the future, public/state university) as long as the program is accredited within the industry.
General career info: www.bls.gov/oco and can search.
U.S. colleges: www.utexas.edu/world/univ |
How do you become a medical secretary? 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! |
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. |
How much does a medical secretary get paid? anybody on here that is a medical secretary.. could you tell me how much you make in a year? |
General career info: www.bls.gov/oco and can search 'administrative assistants and secretaries' or such.
I'm not sure about the job vacancies for med secretary. The medical assistant field is pretty scarce in terms of jobs these days (and medical biller and coder) despite what those private $$ schools proclaim. With medical billing, just fyi, a cousin recently got laid off from her billing job of five years due to outsourcing to asia/inda. Many companies are outsourcing these days. |
What is the best job: Medical secretary or Beauty Therapist? I'm currently a beauty therapist and I do enjoy it, but I also like the idea of being a medical secretary. What do you think would be the best option?
thanks. |
| stay in beauty therapist you can start your own business. |
Can somebody give me a helpful tips for my upcoming interview particularly for Medical Secretary? I have an upcoming interview for Medical secretary job, can somebody provide me a helpful tips like a sample for a possible question and answer to that question |
look at this site
www.wisebread.com/how-to-answer-2… |
I temp as a senior medical secretary, but have been put on reception? I'm a medical secretary, but have been put on reception?
I temp as a senior medical secretary and was concerned that today, my first day in my booking, I'm on reception! I hate reception and wasn't booked for this. Shall I just keep quiet and be grateful I have a job or tell the agency? I'm only here this week and still get the same hourly rate as a secretary. |
Yeah, go ahead and whine and complain. There are thousands of other people with the same or better qualifications than you that are out of work and wouldn't mind being on reception, so your position will be filled quickly.
Otherwise, just be grateful that you not only have a job, but you're getting paid better than you should be for the job you're doing. |