What a Day on the Job Looks Like as a Unit Secretary

Are you considering becoming a unit secretary? Or perhaps you’ve already taken the plunge and are interested in what your days will be like on the job. If that's the case, you’ve come to the right place! In this article, we’ll examine a typical day for a unit secretary in depth.

The Morning Rush

One of the main responsibilities of unit secretaries is to answer phones and direct callers to the appropriate hospital personnel. So first thing in the morning, expect to answer calls from patients, their families, doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff. As such, it pays to be organized and efficient when answering calls — no one wants to be put on hold for too long or transferred several times before they get to talk with the right person.

Charting & Documentation

Another big part of your job as a unit secretary is maintaining patient records and updating charts throughout the day. All information must be kept up-to-date and accurate so doctors can access all relevant patient data when making care plans or treatment decisions. Unit secretaries often work with medical transcriptionists to ensure that all updates are made quickly and accurately.

Keeping Things Moving Along

Unit secretaries also play an integral role in scheduling appointments for patients and staff members. This includes ensuring everyone has access to relevant tests or treatments they may need while keeping track of wait times so no one is left waiting too long for their appointment or procedure. As such, it pays to have excellent organizational skills when working as a unit secretary.          

Working as a unit secretary can be very rewarding as it puts you at the heart of patient care delivery within hospitals and other healthcare settings. While every day on the job will vary depending on your specific duties, most days involve answering phones, keeping patient records updated, scheduling appointments, and coordinating between various hospital or healthcare organization departments. With great organizational skills and attention to detail essential for successful unit secretaries, this could be just your job!

What Is It Like Working the Day Shift as a Unit Secretary?

 

Many new Unit Secretaries always want to know what it is like working the day shift. It's busier than the night shift, and you will do things that the night shift will not. 

• You will check and/or enter doctor orders into the computer. 
• You will be there when Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner are served to the patients. You will call and order food trays.
• Patients will go off the floor for tests, procedures, and surgeries, so there will be many patients returning to or transferring off of your unit.
• You will have admissions from the Emergency Room, direct admissions from the doctor's office (it happens, just not a lot). 
• Housekeepers will ask you which patients are being discharged (or have the possibility to be discharged) so that they can strategize which rooms to clean or not clean. It makes no sense for them to clean room 3110 at 10am if they will be discharged when the admitting doctor makes their rounds in an hour. The physician will put the discharge order in, and the patient will leave by 1pm. The housekeep will just clean the room when the patient leaves. 
• You will discharge patients home, or to an SNF (Skilled Nursing Facility), or to a Rehabilitation Facility, or to an acute long term facility, or to a Hospice Facility, or to another hospital, or God forbid, you will discharge them to the morgue (the funeral home).
• Supplies will be delivered on your shift, whether it's from Office Depot/Staples, or
• the hospital warehouse. 
• You will have a constant flow of patients, family, friends, visitors at the nursing station asking questions. 
• And of course, you will have to answer the telephones and call lights. 

So, watch the video above.