A Day In The Life of: Kim Broadbent - Medical Secretary

Case 1: Maria Freebrey - Midwife

Case 2: Victoria Quinn - Intensive Therapy Unit nurse, E Grade

Case 3: Kim Broadbent - Medical Secretary

Case 4: Pauline McCalla - Principal Pharmacist

Case 5: Raminder Birk - Head chef in diet bay 

Kim has worked as a medical secretary at Ealing Hospital for seven years, spending the last two years as secretary to two of the consultants in the HIV unit team.

She enjoys working at Ealing Hospital as it is close to her home and her children's school, so Kim begins her day by driving from Greenford and dropping her children at school in Hanwell. She starts work at 9.00am and her day ends in time to collect the children from school.

Her day starts with typing medical notes from clinics including HIV, genito-urinary, fever and general medical clinics, starting in date order. Referral letters for most clinics are typed up within four working days of the date of the clinic.

"Doctors dictate their referral letters onto tape which they leave with the patients' notes for me to type," Kim explains. "Audio typing is far more common now than shorthand typing. Each tape has about half an hour of dictation and can contain up to 30 patients' letters."

Once typed and signed by the doctor, letters must be carefully processed:

• Each one has a reference number consisting of the secretary and doctor's initials, with the patient's hospital number.

• Three copies of each referral letter - one copy to file in the patient's notes in central records, one for the GP for their attention and a copy for the department filing system

• Once complete, patients' notes must be returned to the central medical records department for safe storage and easy retrieval.

• Some patients prefer to keep their HIV status confidential, not wishing information to be sent to their GP. In these cases the notes and letters are retained in the department on level 8 in strict confidence.

As well as GP referral letters, Kim types benefits agency letters, confirming the identity and status of HIV patients who are unable to work, and are hence able to claim benefits.

While coping with all the patient letters there are the telephone enquires to deal with. "I have to deal with many different telephone calls ranging from patients asking when their appointment is, or those wanting to change their appointment date," Kim explains. "I use the patient administration system to access this data and make the necessary changes."

When asked about the qualities needed to be a medical secretary Kim replied: "First of all you need a lot of patience, as often we deal with irate patients or relatives trying to find out information. Attention to detail is also vital. Content of the letters is very sensitive and must accurately reflect what the doctors have dictated onto the tape and of course any patients' names and medication must be spelt correctly."

Medical secretaries are encouraged to attend the AMSPAR qualification, which covers the specialist medical terminology and spelling, used in their everyday work. An interest in medical matters and a willingness to learn are important qualities for a medical secretary.

"I enjoy working as part of a team," Kim commented. "We work very well together, covering for holiday and sickness, so there is no one saying they only work for certain doctors. Ealing Hospital is small and friendly, making it a pleasant place to work."