Some hospitals might mandate their employees to take the vaccine, just like some require them to take the flu shot.
Last year I made a video talking
about whether you should take the flu shot.
I think the pushback and the fight will be even more vicious if the Coronavirus Vaccine is required simply
because people are highly suspicious of this virus and its numbers (people testing
positive, or dying) and because it hasn’t been tested long enough.
And do not think that
hospitals will not try to force their employees to get the vaccine. Hospitals
depend on Medicare money, and if Medicare says everyone has to take it, then
the medical facility might do what they say.
Sometimes
there will be situations when something tragic will happen, and our job is to
be prepared. Whether it is a tornado that pops up in the Midwest or a train
that derails in your town, you need to be ready.
Your hospital will have a code for
situations like this and if you are there when it is called this is the time
when you jump into action.
After first making sure that you will not be needed somewhere
else in the hospital, the next thing you need to do is make sure that the
printers are filled with paper because there may be a ton of discharges for the
patients who are “well enough” to go home so that the hospital can use those
rooms for the injured patients.
Next, go
get empty charts that are laying around in case you need them because you never
know if the “single room” will soon become a “double room” (so instead of 20
patients on your unit, you now have 40).
Next, make
sure that there are plenty of physician order sheets and progress notes for the
doctors to use. They may not have time to log into the computer and may need to
write the orders on a physician order sheet.
Next, be
prepared to stay longer than expected. Your shift may not end at the scheduled
time. Your replacement may not be able to get there in time, or leaving may not
be an option.
You probably will be
required to do things outside of being a medical secretary, such as helping the
discharged patients gather their belonging and wheeling them down to the main
entrance. You may be required to go to another floor and help them out.
Hey, you may even be required to run down to the cafeteria. And grab some food for the nurses.
The key to a great day is
to get your filing done immediately. Don’t think, “Oh, I have eight hours to
go. I’ll file later.” Later might not come. The thing about hospitals is that
the situation can change at any time. There could be a pile-up on the highway,
a disease outbreak, or God forbid, a terrorist attack.
Example: At the hospital where I work, filing is not a big deal because
our hospital is going paperless. So that means that the lab results and imaging
results are on the computer.
You will also experience different types of patients. You will
have an elderly patient. You will have a noncompliant diabetic patient. You
will have the seriously ill. You will have a patient that was in a traumatic
car accident. You will have drug addicts. You will have patients who are
smokers and leave the unit a thousand times a day to go outside and smoke.
It will be hard for you to understand why some people are in
the hospital when it seems like they do not want to be helped.
There are people who go to the hospital because they need a
place to stay. You will see a lot of homeless people that treat the hospital as
a hotel. They do have a legitimate health issue, but they do not take care of
themselves. Sometimes it is because they lack money or insurance.
All of this comes with the territory.
This is something that you will have to get used to.
Personally, when I see patients who are frequent flyers it upsets me, but I do
understand that they do have medical issues.
When I applied for the job as a medical secretary, I had to take a
typing test. Now I already knew how to type because I am a writer, but I still
had to take the test. And depending on the company you are applying to; you may
have to meet a 35-wpm typing requirement.
The typing test will measure your typing speed, your
proficiency, your comprehension, and your spelling. The typing test may also
test your knowledge of Word and Excel.
This is necessary because you may be called upon to type up
memos or flyers or to track and input information into a spreadsheet.
Also, a lot of hospitals are going paperless, so knowing how to work a computer is a must.
Getting a job as a unit secretary in a hospital is hard!
Whether you have prior experience or not, it is tough getting a job.
Some of my suggestions to work around this is to:
Apply to work per diem to get your foot in the door
Apply at another type of medical facility like a Skilled
Nursing facility, Rehabilitation Facility, Nursing Home, etc.
Apply for another job within the hospital that will get you
in. For example, I knew a guy who was a Unit Secretary at the rehab facility right
next to the hospital, but he could not get a job as a unit secretary in the
hospital. So, he took a job as a transporter. He had to wait for six months
before he could apply for the position, but hey he was in.
The primary reason why you should give/receive a report to the
oncoming/off going shift is to facilitate continuity of care. Nurses do it all
day, every day, all over the world.
Just give a quick update, nothing major of what is going on
with the unit and the patients. Give your fellow Unit Secretaries a heads up on
how their day can potentially go.
There
are ways you can help keep your unit hazard-free.
Place
wet floor signs on the floor if you spot anything spilled on the floor. Of
course, you should try to wipe it up first.
Make sure the hallways are
equipment free. Usually, the only thing you will see plugged in the hallway are
mobile blood pressure machines that the CNAs use when they are attending to the
patients and a COW (computer on wheels).
Make
sure that small garbage cans are out of the walkway and are tucked under the counter at the nursing station.
