Medical Secretary interview

[BlackCatFan]

Hi,

I have an interview for a Medical Secretary position in the trust I work at. The interview will involve doing an audio typing test.. I don't have any experience of audio typing. Shall I cancel the interview? I sort of applied on a whim, as it was only part time and didn't specify audio typing within the spec. But it will be a big part of the job won't it??

I work in a different department within the trust at the moment, as an administrator. I like the idea of being a medical secretary, but thinking that I may need some more/more specific experience ... can anyone advise?

Thanks

Can you type well? I do a lot of audio transcription work - though not medical. You may have to use a foot pedal to stop, start and rewind the recording. It depends how it is set up. And know your medical terminology - the crucial difference between hyper and hypo, for example.

I had this in a medical secretary interview in the cardiology department. I type at 60wpm but failed this because I’d never used a foot pedal before and didn’t know what I was doing, also the tape contained a lot of cardiology medical terminology. It wasn’t timed or anything though. I’d suggest really brush up on the terminology of whatever department it’s in. I then went onto get another medical secretary position in another dept who didn’t do this test during the interview, and picked it up very quickly on the job anyway :) good luck!

Thanks both, that helps. I might just go to the interview and see what happens.. I'm desperate to get out of my current role.

As a person who does this job in a busy department I would say about 20-30% is audio typing but some departments do a lot more. The technical aspects are easy to pick up but you may struggle with the terminology at first (this is also picked up and if you work in a medical setting already you will be surprised by how much you probably already know). I would go for the interview and see how you get on. It will probably involve using a foot pedal that controls the audio file. l'll be honest and say that this may be the crux in you not getting the job, it will all depend on how much the department relies on typing.

Sorry cut off too early. Good luck anyway and hope you get it! Audio typing is easy enough and after a few weeks of doing it will feel like second nature so hopefully the interviewers understand that too.

Do they use something like Big Hand though? Not a medical secretary but the ones at our trust basically correct the letters that have been audio-dictated by the docs. Looks much easier than doing it from scratch.

Some trusts do have software that auto dictates but some don't, ours doesn't.

I was a medical secretary before I took maternity and now at home with my DD. There was an awful lot of audio typing involved particularly where I worked. Firstly I would still go, you are allowed a “practice” before you start, just to get a feel for the foot pedal etc. I would say, don’t panic and good luck!