What Does a Medical Admissions Clerk Do?

Do you have a passion for organisation, communication, and helping ensure patients receive appropriate care from their health professionals?

There are a lot of career paths you can take in the medical field, but if this description sounds spot on for you, you might be a great fit for medical admissions.

What are a medical admitting clerk’s duties?

A medical admissions clerk is the first person a patient sees when they enter a healthcare centre. They’re responsible for greeting patients, directing them to the appropriate healthcare professional, and admitting them into the filing system so their doctor or nurse can easily access their medical file when they need to. They are essential for a hospital or medical centre to operate successfully and are integral members of any team.

Clerical Duties

A medical admissions clerk is responsible for arranging and recording details of admissions, so a keen eye for organisation comes in handy. Clerical tasks like data entry, filing, photocopying, word processing, and mail dispatch are part of the day-to-day. If you’re preparing to start your path in this career, these are the items you will likely see on any hospital admitting clerk job description.

Greeting and Admitting Duties

When patients enter the hospital or medical centre, the admissions clerks will greet them and admit them into the system, recording any symptoms the patient mentions to make the doctors’ and nurses’ processes faster. They may also need to prompt with further questions to get accurate answers to give the doctor or nurse an idea of what kind of symptoms the patient has.

When a common illness is spreading around, these kinds of questions can save the doctors and nurses a lot of time so they can treat the patients faster. This can also help if a patient needs to be isolated before they see a doctor or nurse to prevent any spreading of their illness to other patients.

Administrative Duties

Medical admissions clerks may also find themselves contacting doctors and nurses about surgeries and meetings. Some clerks may even find themselves maintaining a calendar for their team so that every patient receives the care they require.

Communicative Duties

As the face of the healthcare centre, medical admission clerks will help assist patients that enter the centre. They’re responsible for greeting patients, directing them to the appropriate healthcare professional, and answering questions where possible.

A medical admissions clerk is also responsible for answering phones and assisting patients over the phone as well as in person. When patients have comments or complaints, a medical admissions clerk is who will help the patient lodge a complaint or comment.

Medical admissions clerks also liaise with insurance companies over the phone or via email, utilising their communication skills.

What are the requirements to start a career as a medical admissions clerk?

If you’re interested in becoming a medical or hospital admitting clerk, the path is simple. A lot of clerical roles will be able to provide on-the-job training and are open to anyone willing to learn and put the hard work in. However, for anyone looking to stand out from the crowd and start their career already experienced and knowledgeable, completing a HLT37315 Certificate III in Health Administration is an excellent idea.

Why choose to be a medical admissions clerk?

There are many reasons you might want to pursue medical admissions.

• You might be a people person who loves greeting and helping patients.

• You might enjoy a fast-paced work environment that has new challenges each day.

• You might enjoy working with doctors but don’t want to be one yourself.

• You might be interested in the salary packages and relative job security that accompany medical admission clerk roles.

Whatever your reason for wanting to pursue this career path, it’s time to give it a go. Start searching for job openings or call 1300 616 197 for more information on our HLT37315 Certificate III in Health Administration today.

Next