Unit Secretary

DCH Health Care Authority•Northport, AL

6d•Onsite

About The Position

Under the supervision of the RN, the Unit Secretary assists with planning, organizing, implementing, and evaluating activities at the nursing station. The role performs clerical and receptionist duties and maintains the physical environment of the area. The Unit Secretary supports safe and smooth unit operations, including cardiac-monitoring-related tasks, order transcription, medical-record management, communication, patient rounds, and routine unit administration. The position also supports patient and workplace safety, accurate documentation, emergency preparedness, economical use of supplies, and performance-improvement activities. It requires use of electronic mail, time-and-attendance and learning-management software, an intranet, and an electronic medical record. Physical presence onsite is essential.

Requirements

High school diploma or GED.
Basic mathematics and computer skills to support clinical care and use of an electronic medical record, email, time-and-attendance software, learning-management software, and intranet.
Ability to read, write legibly, speak, and comprehend English.
Ability to communicate clearly and accurately, receive delegation, work in groups, and handle conflict and interactions with different personalities, including unpleasant or verbally aggressive individuals.
Ability to perform both structured and unstructured work, meet time pressures and deadlines, and work accurately.
Ability to use electronic mail, telephone, and texting.
Ability to tolerate possible exposure to human body fluids, disease, infection, laboratory chemicals, hazardous materials, and cleaning solutions, and to wear common protective and safety equipment.
Ability to perform light work, exerting up to 20 pounds occasionally and/or up to 10 pounds frequently, with a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects.
Ability to tolerate prolonged standing and walking; reach reasonable distances in any direction; stand, walk, kneel, bend, sit, stoop, lift, and run in an emergency.
Coordinated finger movement and ability to feel and perceive temperature, texture, shape, and size with the fingertips.
Ability to perform duties with or without reasonable accommodation; hearing and vision must be normal or corrected to within normal range.
Stamina to work a prolonged shift.
Physical presence onsite is essential.

Nice To Haves

Prior secretarial experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Coordinate clerical unit functions to support safe and smooth operations.
Observe the cardiac-monitoring status of all patients and ensure the monitor station is attended by qualified staff during breaks and lunch.
Validate assignment of cardiac alarms to caregivers at the beginning of each shift; notify staff of alarms, rhythm changes, and leads-off alarms.
Validate each patient’s monitoring status at least every two hours, at shift change, and during hand-off communication for breaks and lunch; document validation on the appropriate form.
Perform a monitor count each shift to ensure all monitors are present, as appropriate for the area.
Transcribe orders accurately and assemble, maintain, and disassemble medical records.
Answer phones and intercoms and communicate messages.
Round on all patients each shift to confirm appropriate placement of care reminders, such as hard-of-hearing and fall-precaution reminders.
Perform timely patient-discharge notifications and conduct census verification at predefined intervals.
Check emergency telephones daily and periodically check the contents of emergency boxes.
Respond promptly to patient needs and consistently perform basic duties, including hand hygiene and use of two patient identifiers.
Use supplies economically and help maintain equipment and nursing units in a clean and safe manner.
Document accurately in accordance with policies and procedures and apply safety principles when performing duties.
Support performance-improvement activities, including serving on teams as warranted, assisting with measures, and implementing changes.
Maintain working knowledge of order entry and physician-order transcription processes.
Maintain an organized, well-supplied, clean nursing unit and maintain statistics or logs required by the unit Manager or Director.
Meet performance, patient-satisfaction, employee-satisfaction, and financial standards described in the performance evaluation; comply with Employee Handbook requirements and DCH policies and procedures.
Follow DCH Behavioral Standards and perform essential duties in a manner that promotes the safety of patients, visitors, and employees; identify and reduce unsafe practices and take appropriate action to reduce risks and hazards.
Perform other duties as assigned.