Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistant Career

Job Description: Perform secretarial duties using specific knowledge of medical terminology and hospital, clinic, or laboratory procedures. Duties may include scheduling appointments, billing patients, and compiling and recording medical charts, reports, and correspondence.


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Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistant Career

What skills are required for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants?

Importance Skills
  Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
  Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
  Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
  Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
  Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
  Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
  Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
  Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
  Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
  Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
  Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.

What knowledge is needed to be a Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistant?

Importance Knowledge
  Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
  English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
  Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
  Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
  Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
  Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
  Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
  Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
  Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Work Styles

Importance Styles
  Concern for Others - Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
  Attention to Detail - Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
  Integrity - Job requires being honest and ethical.
  Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
  Stress Tolerance - Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.
  Self-Control - Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
  Cooperation - Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
  Adaptability/Flexibility - Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
  Social Orientation - Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
  Independence - Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
  Persistence - Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
  Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
  Achievement/Effort - Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
  Analytical Thinking - Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
  Leadership - Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
  Innovation - Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.