Hospital Medical Records Clerk (follow-up to part 1)

Hospital Medical Records Clerk (part 2)

Follow-up correspondence...

In January, 1997 I received the following email:

I'm a high school senior enrolled in a Health Occupations class. We recently got assigned a profession to research, my topic is Medical Records Clerk. I was wondering if you could tell me more about the job. I would really appreciate it.

I responded that I thought I had said everything I knew or could remember about the job in the article--had she read it? (Of course she had--that's why she emailed me in the first place!) She said she had a number of additional questions, which she listed:

Subj: Re: Medical Records Clerk Job...

Yes, I read the page. But the information I need is not discussed all that much, such, as....

Educational Requirements
Certification required
Advancement opportunities
Wages & Benefits
Job outlook
Thank you very much for the information!

Here is my response:

Hi!

Okay! I see what you mean. I don't know the answers to all of them, but you might try going to the U.S. government's own census bureau for questions about outlook for the future, #'s in the field, and so on... Here's the URL:

http://www.census.gov/
I'll try to fill in the ones I think I know, though...

Educational Requirements

High School Diploma is probably required. I didn't have much college. However, I did have a good solid recommendation and that's important because it is a job which carries significant responsibility, as does just about any job in a hospital. Your reputation is the most important thing you own! Of course, you must be able to read.

Certification required

No.

Advancement opportunities

I don't think there were any significant ones directly. The Medical Records Director I would expect is a degreed professional so that's out. However, what you can do is go to school at the same time, and then you'll already be an employee in the medical profession with any benefits that often includes, and be gaining seniority at the hospital you work at. And besides that, if you work the night shift you can (at least where I worked) sometimes get your homework done while you're there.

They don't have anything else for you to do sometimes except just BE THERE if you're needed, so they don't mind if you use that time to better yourself. I learned to juggle, it's true, but I also read a lot of good books.

Wages & Benefits

It was a minimum wage job, or just slightly better, but since it puts you into the hospital payroll, the benefits are sometimes pretty good. That's been changing, I hear--even hospitals don't always have good benefits packages for their employees--but they probably still have better benefits than outside the medical industry, I would think. I'm just guessing, or maybe I heard something, I'm not sure.

Job outlook

It will be a long time before this job is 'computerized'. Everybody's records are still maintained largely in paper format and must be physically pulled and sent down to ER. I've advocated for decades that this not be so, but so far, it hasn't changed. When it does the job will be eliminated, but anyone entering the field right now, I would guess, might have several decades before they would have had to learn a new skill.

I would recommend, however, that this profession be entered with the understanding that it gives you a unique opportunity to learn about the workings of the medical profession and that you'll be doing it while continuing school in a more advanced medical profession.

******************************

I guess I was able to give answers to most of your questions after all, but for real facts instead of conjecture, I still recommend you contact the Census Bureau online.

Good luck with the report and I hope you get an "A"! Let me know.

Thanks,
Russell Hoffman
The Animated Software Company

I am happy to report that she emailed me back that "we" had indeed received an "A"!!!!

Back to Hospital Medical Records Clerk Job Story

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The Animated Software Company
http://www.animatedsoftware.com
rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
First placed online February 1st, 1997.
Last modified March 27th, 1997.
Webwiz: Russell D. Hoffman
Copyright (c) Russell D. Hoffman