I made a video a while ago titled 3 Tips for the New Unit Secretary, where I explained that you should take good notes, understand that there are a lot of personalities in the hospital, and know that burnout may happen.
In this video, I added two more tips, and one of them is still to take good notes! The other is to be time.
This is the story of how I became a Health Unit Coordinator.
I applied for the job online and was called in for an interview. Before I did the interview, I was required to take a typing test. I took the test and passed, and then I did the interview and got the job.
For the first two weeks of the job, the rest of the new HUCs and I were in a room for eight hours of learning medical terminology. Once we passed the medical terminology course, we moved on to the unit that we were going to be working on and were put into a room to complete required Computer-Based Learning (CBLs), and then we were allowed on the floor to start our orientation.
Now, if you want to be a Unit Clerk, all you have to do is pass a background and drug test. And then you are sent to the floor for a rushed through orientation with multiple people.
How can a new HUC process all of this information, some of it right and wrong, depends on who trained them?
About five years ago, I was sitting at the desk as a Health Unit Coordinator when a patient's wife struck up a conversation with me.
She explained that she used to be a HUC many years ago and that she had one foolproof way to guarantee job security.
"Don't teach the new HUCs everything that you know." She explained that if the new HUCs didn't know what they were doing, they would get frustrated and quit. Or appear extremely incompetent and get fired.
More overtime for you.
I just sat there and listened to her, but I thought to myself, what kind of person do you have to be to want to see another person fail? Especially someone who has bills, possibly a family, or other responsibilities. What kind of person are you?
I’ve never subscribed to that type of thinking. When I train someone new, I want them to know what I know. I encourage them to take notes. I introduced them to other staff members. I want them to become the Mama Bear of their unit. I want them to be so knowledgeable that they get daily compliments from staff and Outsiders. I want them to be missed when they are not there. I want them to stay. I don't want to be training every six months. A unit/department cannot function properly with a high turnover.
I'm probably the most cheerful, helpful, and knowledgeable trainer when a new HUC needs to be orientated. And that’s because I don’t subscribe to the same thinking as the patient’s wife.
