If you’re interested in a Health Care Career that allows you to work in the medical field without having a college degree, becoming a medical secretary can be a great fit. These health information professionals are vital members of healthcare teams everywhere and play a huge role in ensuring smooth day-to-day medical office operations. At times would-be students confuse medical assistants with medical secretaries. Here, ASPIRA City College, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, clarifies the crucial difference for students considering their best-fitting career.

What Is a Medical Secretary?

Medical secretaries work in all areas of healthcare and all medical environments, including the offices of physicians, medical specialists, hospitals, out-patient clinics, and nursing homes. The medical secretary role emphasizes the administrative side of patient care services. They are the first voice people hear in scheduling a medical, lab, or hospital visit and the first face patients and their families see upon arrival to the medical facility. That makes strong communication and people skills a must for this position. Medical secretaries must also multitask high-volume social interaction with the other areas of their job, such as insurance coding and medical billing, compiling medical records, reporting, and more.

Back to unraveling any confusion, depending on the healthcare organization, you can find medical secretaries working under any one of the following 45 job titles:

Choosing Medical Secretary or Medical Assistant?

From that long list of job titles, you see that medical secretaries are also often called Medical Office Assistants. Drop the word “office,” and you have “medical assistant.  Here’s essential guidance for choosing between the two: if you don’t want to do EKGs, collect urine, draw blood, or the idea of moving from exam room to exam room taking patient weight and blood pressure, then choose medical secretary. On the other hand, if carrying out these patient services excites you, become a medical assistant. The bottom line is that medical assistants have clinical duties and medical secretaries focus strictly on the administrative tasks that keep everything running smoothly. Both medical secretaries and medical assistants are in high demand, so the choice falls on the kind of work activities that appeal to you.

Train to Become a Medical Secretary at ASPIRA City College

If a medical secretary’s duties and career prospects appeal to you, it’s the right time to get started with ASPIRA City College.  To learn more about our Medical Secretary Program, request more info or schedule a virtual visit.