Le métier de secrétaire médicale: missions, competencies and training

The métier de secrétaire médicale occupies a rather contradictory place in the French medical landscape: both known and unknown to all. The vast majority of French people have come into contact with a medical secretariat during a visit to the doctor. As with all visible métiers (the dental assistant métieror the nursing métier), i.e. in direct contact with the client or patient, everyone has a preconceived opinion of this professional's role, whereas in reality, we know little about and understand all her responsibilities. It was therefore only logical that we should devote one of our métiers fact sheets to it, in order to describe this essential component of the national health system.

What is the role of a medical secretary?

This title, geared towards meeting editorial prerequisites, does not do justice to the complexity of the job of a corporate secretary. She takes on so many responsibilities that it would have been more honest to entitle this section: what role is not that of a médical secretary? Here, then, is a non-exhaustive list of all the tasks she has to perform during her daily exercises.

Receiving patients and managing appointments

Physical reception: orienting patients on the premises, managing the waiting room, checking administrative documents.
Telephone reception: answering calls, screening emergencies, providing information on availability.
Appointment planning: organization of medical schedule, management of cancellations and postponements.
Emergency management: assessment of the degree of urgency of requests, insertion of urgent cases into the schedule.
Patient information: explanation of prerequisites for examinations, communication of fees.
Management of delays: reorganization of the schedule in real time, information for patients concerned.

Administrative organization of the medical practice

Financial management: collection of consultations, monitoring of outstanding payments, transmission of treatment forms.
Accounting follow-up: keeping revenue records, preparing documents for the chartered accountant.
Inventory management : inventory of medical equipment, ordering of administrative supplies.
Supplier relations: negotiating rates, monitoring deliveries, managing reimbursements.
Premises maintenance : coordination with cleaning services, maintenance of equipment.
Agenda management: organization of professional meetings, coordination of absences.

Management of medical files and correspondence

Patient records management: collection and verification of administrative and medical information
Maintaining files : integrating examination results and consultation reports.
Saisie médicale: transcription of consultation reports, medical correspondence.
Archiving: filing of paper and digital files, compliance with legal retention requirements.
Correspondence médicale: drafting and sending letters to colleagues, laboratories.
Data protection: application of medical secrecy, secrecy of confidential information.
Relations with professionals : transmission of information to specialists, coordination of care.
Examination management : booking appointments for complementary examinations, follow-up of results.
Mail processing : sort incoming mail, prepare and send outgoing mail.
Numérization: scanning of paper documents, indexing in the computerized patient record.
Management of access requests: processing of patient requests for medical records.
Coordination with healthcare organizations: transmission of information to social security and mutual insurance companies.

Training to become a medical secretary

The different training paths

There is no specific state diploma for the profession, but there are several routes to a career as a médicale secretary. The classic route is through a vocational or technological baccalaureate, followed by specialized training. The latter can be taken as part of an initial or sandwich course, enabling rapid immersion in the professional world.

Required diplomas and certifications

The main diplomas recognized for becoming a métaire médicaleare:

Le titre professionnel de secrétaire médicale
Le bac professionnel secrétariat
The BTS Services et prestations des secteurs sanitaire et social
Medical secretary certification offered by certain private schools

Specialization opportunities

There are a number of spécialization possibilities, depending in particular on the type of establishment or medical specialty: cancerology, radiology, surgery, psychiatry, etc. These spécialization possibilities are described below. These specializations enable you to acquire specific skills and progress to more technical positions.

To find out more, take a look at our level sheet for secrecy studies !

The essential skills of a métaire médicale

There are many of them, just like the missions they have to accomplish. The medical secretary is therefore highly versatile, because she must master both patient communication and the digital environment in which records are managed. The variety of his actions translates into:

Communication and interpersonal skills

This is the cornerstone of the work of a médical secretary. For decades, all of them have had to demonstrate excellent listening skills in order to understand patients' needs and deal with emergencies. Diplomacy and self-control are also essential for managing conflict situations and accompanying anxious or distressed patients. The medical secretary must adapt her communication to suit her interlocutors, be they patients, doctors or other healthcare professionals.

In addition, her professionalism is evident in both attitude and language. She must have a keen sense of confidentiality and discretion. The ability to work as part of a team and to coordinate the various parties involved is crucial, as is the ability to reformulate and popularize medical information to make it accessible to patients. At the same time, strong conflict management and mediation skills help maintain a serene working environment for all.

Mastery of office automation tools and medical software

The increasing digitalization of the medical sector requires this professional to master IT tools. On a day-to-day basis, the medical secretary is required to manage a wide range of software specialized in the management of medical practices. While these tools make it easier to optimize appointment management and patient follow-up, they do not reduce the impact of secrecy in this area. She no longer has to do everything by hand, but must, in return, develop IT logistics skills that will enable her to access better medical secretarial job opportunities.

She must, for example, transmit healthcare forms to the relevant organizations or update patient files on the dedicated platform. With the rise of telemedicine, the medical secretary must also familiarize herself with remote consultation platforms and digital dictation systems for medical transcription. So many digital manipulations that make it a modern business subject to the rapid changes of the digital environment.

Basic medical knowledge and terminology

If not the core of her job, the professional médical secretary must possess a solid médical culture. Mastery of specific vocabulary and the main abbreviations is essential to understand and effectively transcribe the information conveyed by the doctor to patients, and to be able to answer the latter's main questions.

Understanding the different medical specialties and their particularities also facilitates administrative case management. The medical secretary must also be familiar with standard care protocols and treatment circuits. Mastery of the nomenclature of medical acts is essential for billing, as is knowledge of the main drugs and treatments. Finally, hygiene and safety rules in the medical environment are also part of the necessary knowledge base, even if this remains marginal.

Of course, a constant watch on legislative and technological developments will enable him to remain alert and as close as possible to the reality of his own activity, while ensuring that he is never out of touch.

The working conditions of a médical secretary

In a medical practice, clinic or hospital

The working conditions of a medical secretary vary considerably depending on where she works, with each environment having its own specific characteristics.

In medical practice, the environment offers several distinctive advantages:

A friendly, family atmosphere
A privileged relationship with practitioner(s)
Greater autonomy in work organization
Personalized patient follow-up
Direct responsibility for administrative management

Clinical practice, for its part, presents a different, more structured framework, with formalized procedures. Work is generally carried out in teams, allowing for better work sharing and more flexible leave management.

The hospital environment, meanwhile, is characterized by strict protocols and a wide variety of pathologies encountered.

Working hours and schedule

The organization of working hours strongly depends on the type of establishment. The main characteristics vary according to the place of work:

In private practice, working hours are generally fixed, with little or no weekend work, a heavy workload and closures during the practitioner's holidays.

In health establishments, the pace is more variable. Secretaries may work on a rotating basis, and are sometimes required to be on call in the evenings or at weekends. Schedules are drawn up several weeks in advance, enabling better personal organization. Lastly, the workload can be particularly intense in emergency departments, which are very busy.

Learn more about this in our hospital secrecy timesheet !

Career prospects

Évolute;to an administrative manager position

With experience, a secrétaire médicale expérimentée will be able to progress to positions of responsibility such as medical secretarial coordinator or administrative manager in a healthcare establishment. These changes require additional training.

As the medical sector is constantly evolving, continuing training is essential to ensure a successful career. Medical secretaries can follow training courses to perfect their use of new digital tools, stress management, or acquire new administrative skills.

Changes in business specialization

The diversity of medical specialties offers opportunities for reorientation within the profession itself. A médical secretary may choose to specialize in a new médical field, changing work environments while retaining her core competencies.

In résumé, the métaire médicale is comprehensive. It covers everything from simple appointment scheduling to medical file management and digital workload management. It's a constantly evolving career, particularly in the context of the digitization of the healthcare sector. Professionals have to adapt to new technologies, while maintaining the quality of patient care. It's a demanding but rewarding profession, and one that offers real prospects of advancement for those who invest.

Loved this fact sheet? Continue reading with our fiche salaire secrétaire médicale!!