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Medical Secretary

Job Profile: Medical Secretary

Job Description
Medical secretaries perform highly specialized work requiring knowledge of technical terminology and procedures. Medical secretaries transcribe dictation, prepare correspondence, and assist physicians or medical scientists with reports, speeches, articles, and conference proceedings. They also record simple medical histories, arrange for patients to be hospitalized, and order supplies. Most medical secretaries need to be familiar with insurance rules, billing practices, and hospital or laboratory procedures. Other technical secretaries who assist engineers or scientists may prepare correspondence, maintain their organization’s technical library, and gather and edit materials for scientific papers.

All administrative work takes a great deal of dedication, motivation and tact. It also calls for a comfort with technology and openness to training. When figuring out if becoming a legal secretary is the best fit for you, ask and answer the following questions:

• Do you like the environment of a doctor’s or dentist office or hospital?
• Can you keep close track of appointments’ dates and times?
• Are you willing to learn medical and hospital terminology?
• Can you be trusted with confidential medical information?

Median Salary
$27,611

Education Requirements
A Medical Secretary must have a high school degree or equivalent certification. More than ever, however, employers are demanding advanced degrees from potential Medical Secretaries. Two options are earning either your Associates Degree or Bachelors Degree. The most popular tracks are Healthcare Management, Office Skills or Medical Office Administration.

Job Outlook
In 2006, the Bureau of Labor Statistics sites that there were 408,000 Medical secretaries in the U.S. By 2016, this number is projected to grow by 17% or 68,000 jobs to 477,000 Medical secretaries. This is faster than the average for all other secretarial fields and faster than the average for all jobs in the U.S. This means the opportunities in this area are plentiful.

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Want to become a medical secretary? Read our guide “5 Steps to Becoming a Medical Secretary.”