Medical secretary training

ScarlettMcCain

I'm currently on maternity leave but expecting to be made redundant shortly after I return to work in September (my department's work is being outsourced). I have two young children and am considering training as a medical secretary; I've several years of admin experience and have worked in hospitals before, although not for over 10 years. I was looking at Pitman Training and wondered if anyone had any suggestions as to whether their courses would be the most suitable/ cost effective? I'm on a DMP and once childcare costs are taken into account I may have to pay any costs on direct debit rather than up front

I think I would go for the Level 2 Certificate to start with - hopefully get my foot in the door somewhere and they might offer to pay for further training - it looks like I could qualify by Christmas and then at least become bank staff somewhere to gain more experience, plus it would be flexible to work round childcare.

If anyone has any feedback on my plan that would be very helpful

Gingernutty

The magic 'word' is AMSPAR.

If it's not AMSPAR approved, forget it.

I've seen medical students turned down for summer holiday jobs because they haven't got the AMSPAR medical terminology course under their belts!

Pitman are a good choice and concentrate on the secretarial, rather than practice management, admin or receptionist qualifications.

A huge portion of the job will be audio transcription, so you'll need good hearing as well.

Reliable medical secretaries are in demand. Good luck.

paddyrg

The lingo and acronyms will be hugely important from what I gather.

For instance if you see 'TF Bundy' on someone's notes, without context, how would you transcribe it?

Totally *cough* But Not Dead Yet ;-)

DigForVictory

Thank you! (sorry to hijack for a moment, OP!)
Son has expressed an interest in nursing, but as a presently unstable epileptic may not be an obvious hire.
He is however thoroughly IT literate so I'll point him at this & see.

LittleVoice

paddyrg wrote: »

The lingo and acronyms will be hugely important from what I gather.

For instance if you see 'TF Bundy' on someone's notes, without context, how would you transcribe it?

Totally *cough* But Not Dead Yet ;-)

And when was the last time you saw such a comment on any current notes?

clairecymru

I work as a medical secretary supervisor and not one person that I have employed in the last 5 years has had the AMSPAR diploma. I look for a good office background and audio typing skills. Medical terminology can be learned on the job. Even experienced medical secretaries will struggle with terminology when changing departments.

lurkylurky

I started work recently as a medical secretary after taking redundancy from my previous unrelated job. I have no medical training so Google is my friend. I did worry in my first few weeks that I was very slow as I was stopping all the time to look up words, sometimes up to 15 words in one letter. After a few weeks I was put with one of the senior consultants and we've developed a really good working relationship.

Once I knew which specialty I was woorking in I googled a list of commonly used drugs and phrases. I then added them to auto-text as I went along and it's so much easier now.

So I would say go for it and just apply for jobs.

Polarbeary

I used to be a medical secretary and I don't have AMPSAR. Before I got the job I had worked as a PA/office manager in a civil service department. I did some temping work on an NHS hospital bank - just data entry and filing and one day the senior medical sec asked if I could try audio typing - well I had never done so before so I tried it and after that I was doing it everyday!

They then made me an audio typist but it was only band 2 and I really wanted more money - so within a few months I applied for a band 4 med sec job and I got it.

There always seem to be a lot of med sec jobs around in the NHS - especially in London where I was told by three separate HR people that they are also desperate for med secs! There are a few private hospital jobs going (especially in London) and they do seem to pay a bit more with private healthcare as a perk.

What I would say is that some Trusts are downgrading med secs to band 3s and employing more band 2s as audio typists to save money. A band 4 is classed in some places as a senior med sec! The normal mode is a band 3 is a "support" med sec and a band 4 is a regular med sec with a band 5 as a senior med sec and line manager of several secs.

Another thing to be aware of is the creeping tide of automation. Some Trusts are experimenting with automatic dictation software (although they will have to invest a lot into it it'll save staffing costs long term) and the dreaded outsourcing of typing overseas to India and the Philippines! This is then typed overnight digitally and sent back to the UK for the med sec to check and then print and send the letters! Although - the standard is apparently very poor with the med secs having to re-type whole letters. So in some places it has been brought back in-house.

One Trust in London has renamed their secs "Medical PAs" and they do less typing as it's outsourced and more PA work such as diary management, clinic management, minuting meetings etc.

I did quite enjoy it - I liked working in hospitals. On the other hand, 80% of the role was audio typing all day. Some patients can be upset and angry when they ring up, the NHS is chronically understaffed and we used to have typing backlogs of 6 weeks with no money to employ bank or agency staff to help clear them. Some consultants can be "challenging."

I left because there's a lack of career progression (only to senior med sec or PA to senior management really) and because even with London weighting and annual pay increments the pay is pretty low. Living outside London would be easier to live on.

Have a look at courses on Vision2Learn - they are free, Government funded Level 2 courses that you do by distance learning. They do a business&admin one and also healthcare ones which could be useful to have on your CV.

Dizzy_Ditzy

I did seven years as an NHS secretary. The only relevant experience I had to start with was that I could type!

I learned everything I know on the job. Terminology, procedures, the lot. I interviewed a lot of people and having AMSPAR was no good to anyone if they didn't have the personality and overall ability to do the job. We always favoured that over AMSPAR.

why not apply for a couple of jobs so you can get a bit of experience at the interviews?

The post above mine by polarbeary has hit the nail bang on the head. NHS secretaries have got it hard. Every day brings new challenges, new patients screaming at you, new crap from the management, new ways of feeling like you aren't or can't do your job properly, but yet we/they still go to work every day with their heads held high and a smile on their faces. They do the best they can with the very real chance every day that they'll lose even more of the very precious resources to enable them to do their job properly. Secretaries are on the front line. When a patient has a CT scan
, they want the results immediately and you have to be hard enough not to take it to heart when the patient screams at you that "if I die without finding out the results, you will be the one my family and solicitor go after".

Of course, it goes without saying that there are patients who you'd choose as your family if you could

I was a senior secretary from day one. I left because I got it in the neck from the management for actually going out of my way to help a patient. Add in that I'd reached the top of band 4 and couldn't go any further without progressing to management, the very thing I detested about the NHS. I left and went to work as a sec in a private hospital. Best move I could have made.

I'm not trying to put you off. I'm trying to help you see that it is hard work physically and quite often emotionally and mentally draining.

I wish you all the luck in the world if you decide to go down the med sec route. If I can help with any questions please feel free to ask

Polarbeary

Hi queen of cheap - what is the private sector like for medical secs? I did a couple of weeks temping once at a private hospital. It seemed okay, less pressured than the NHS but the patients were still challenging

From what I remember - all overtime was paid and the staff got free meals and healthcare?

Polarbeary

The BSMSA do an online "Medical Terminology for Beginners" course which for £49 may be good to have on your applications and shows some willing?

AMPSAR/Pitman qualifications are pretty expensive. The Trust I worked for did sponsor med secs to these qualifications after they had been employed for a couple of years but given the current financial situation I am not sure if the NHS would still fund!