What does the role of a Medical Secretary entail?

The job role will generally relate to the carrying out all the administrative functions in the medical offices that they are working.

They are the principal administrative assistants to these medical environments. They have a principal objective to keep their administrative functions and work environment running efficiently and to lend assistance to their medical staff, where it is feasible. In smaller offices they are likely to be involved in a wider range of activities and will be directly responsible to the GP or medical professional. Medical Secretaries who work in large office are likely to have a much narrower array of tasks and may form a part of an administrative team, which could mean that the Medical Secretary will have a more specialised role.

There are many tasks and roles will vary depending on the environment, so it is not possible to define the role of every Medical Secretary. However, here are some examples:

• In a Doctor’s office, a Medical Secretary is likely to be responsible for ensuring that patient records are recorded and kept safely. Given the importance of these tasks you will expect to perform them manually and electronically, to ensure that all records are backed up. This is because physical disaster can destroy the manual copies. Meanwhile, a data issue could destroy the electronic issue.
• Medical secretaries are likely to be responsible for liaising with patients and ensuring that their queries are dealt with or that they get their appointments booked. Therefore, the Medical secretary will provide the administrative functions of maintaining the office diary.
• Another key part of being a Medical secretary is the ability to be discreet and uphold procedures in dealing with confidential and sensitive information. Naturally, the majority of information that you see will be confidential and sensitive. Therefore, this part of the job holds a special importance in this career type.

Secretarial jobs and careers are generally performed primarily by women. This is true in the case of medical secretarial work. There are far more existing medical secretaries in the industry, but there is no practical reason that men should feel that this is not a suitable career. This is a career for all types.