Health Careers

Medical Office Services

NATURE OF THE PROFESSION

Most health care institutions employ medical secretaries and medical assistants to perform and coordinate office activities and to ensure that information gets disseminated in a timely fashion to staff and patients. They work in office settings in hospitals, clinics, laboratories, physicians' offices, insurance companies, emergency and outpatient diagnostic centers, and extended-care facilities.

Medical secretaries and medical assistants schedule appointments, give information to callers, organize and maintain files, fill out forms, take dictation, and transcribe, edit, and type physicians' dictated notes of patients' medical procedures and treatments.

APTITUDES

•   Be able to learn office procedures.
•   Have good ability with words.
•   Have good eye-hand coordination and finger dexterity.
•   Be able to move from one task to another quickly.
•   Have ability to work with people.
•   Be able to work within set standards and keep accurate records.
•   Be able to make visual comparisons and proofread.
•   Have ability to make decisions based on experience.

HELPFUL HIGH SCHOOL SUBJECTS

Word processing and other computer skills; accounting and other business courses.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS IN IOWA

•   Des Moines Area Community College
•   Eastern Iowa Community College
•   Hamilton College
•   Hawkeye Community College
•   Iowa Lakes Community College
•   Iowa Western Community College
•   Kaplan College (diploma, associate's degree)
•   Kirkwood Community College
•   Northwest Iowa Community College
•   Southeastern Community College

JOB OUTLOOK and SALARY

Job openings will be plentiful, particularly for well-qualified and experienced secretaries, stemming from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations or leave this very large occupation for other reasons each year. Rapid growth in health services should lead to average growth for medical secretaries.

Approximate starting average annual salary for staff secretaries at Iowa hospitals is approximately $17,200. For executive/administrative secreataries, the approximate average is 21,200.