Working in a Medical Environment e.g. GP's

Oleander

Is there anyone on Boards that works at a GP that can tell me what challenges you face working in a General Practice on a daily basis?

I had an interview last week for a GP's and this question came up. I suppose apart from the obvious challenge of dealing with ill patients, I'd love to have some feedback from someone who works in a GP or Hospital and hear what sort of challenges arise on a daily basis. It is an area I would love to get into and unfortunately for me I was unsuccessful at this recent interview (even though I have not yet heard, I don't feel confident I will hear back from them). I'm just trying to remember the questions they asked and be prepared if any future similar interviews arise.

mad_shopaholic

im a secretary for a private consultant and was also a clerical officer in a hospital are you talking about challenges from an admin perspective?

Oleander

I'm not sure, the question was 'What challenges would you face working in a GP'?. All I can think of is, maybe dealing with frustrated customers who have been waiting a long time. I didn't know how to answer it as I haven't worked in any medical environment before, I've never been asked that question before in other places I've worked so I was caught unprepared. It's particularly the GP that I'm interested in knowing how to answer it. Even from the admin perspective, if you have feedback I'd be grateful for any info.

Thank you.

mad_shopaholic

I meant was the position you interviewed for an admin position?
Admin wise challenges would be results making sure all patients recieve there results and also some patients have repeat scans mammograms etc in a years time say that can be a challenge to make sure they recieve an appointment for a scan and also that there flagged for follow up at the surgery to recieve the results the attention to detail can be a challenge

Oleander

Sorry, yes the postiion was Administration/Reception?

Oleander

mad_shopaholic wrote: »

im a secretary for a private consultant and was also a clerical officer in a hospital are you talking about challenges from an admin perspective?

I finished a Medical Secretary course last summer gaining the required Certificates etc. I've since sent my cv to lots of medical centres because I know there has been a moratorium on hiring in hospitals.

I hope you don't mind me asking, do you have any tips or advice for getting into the medical sector as Admin/Reception/Secretary (I have 19 years clerical experience but not in the medical area)? No worries if not.
Thanks.

mad_shopaholic

the only thing i can suggest is to keep tryin with GPs, private consultants and try private hospitals as well try offering holiday cover as well this will get you some experience when there is no full time jobs available
I got placed on the permanent recruitment panel in a hospital so was brought in on a temporary contract for a year while waiting for my place to come up but unfortunately the recruitment ban came in while i was waiting and they werent allowed renew my temporary contract

Oleander

mad_shopaholic wrote: »

the only thing i can suggest is to keep tryin with GPs, private consultants and try private hospitals as well try offering holiday cover as well this will get you some experience when there is no full time jobs available
I got placed on the permanent recruitment panel in a hospital so was brought in on a temporary contract for a year while waiting for my place to come up but unfortunately the recruitment ban came in while i was waiting and they werent allowed renew my temporary contract

Thanks for the advice, it all helps.

Mrs OBumble

I don’t think you’d need to be working in the field to come up with a list of challenges.

Try this:

- Patients being late for appointments
- Patients being on time, but the doctor / nurse running late, and so the patients giving out to whoever’s available (ie you)
- People ringing up for appointments, when there are no free appointments available – how to judge when to just say “no” and when to get a doctor for potential direct referral to A&E
- Uncontrolled children running riot in the waiting room
- Mentally ill people scaring other people in the waiting room
- Upset people – either while they wait for appointments, or after they’ve been told bad news
- Sick people – imagine someone collapsing in your reception area!
- Patients not paying
- Or paying with cheques that bounce. Or credit cards, Or Laser. Or travelers cheques. Or foreign currency. Or cash but not having the right change. Or arguing over the bill etc.
- Managing the volume of calls during busy periods, while still getting the mail, reconciliations and banking done.

And that’s just a few …

Oleander

These are some excellent points, thank you.

marnieb

JustMary wrote: »

I don’t think you’d need to be working in the field to come up with a list of challenges.

Try this:

- Patients being late for appointments
- Patients being on time, but the doctor / nurse running late, and so the patients giving out to whoever’s available (ie you)
- People ringing up for appointments, when there are no free appointments available – how to judge when to just say “no” and when to get a doctor for potential direct referral to A&E
- Uncontrolled children running riot in the waiting room
- Mentally ill people scaring other people in the waiting room
- Upset people – either while they wait for appointments, or after they’ve been told bad news
- Sick people – imagine someone collapsing in your reception area!
- Patients not paying
- Or paying with cheques that bounce. Or credit cards, Or Laser. Or travelers cheques. Or foreign currency. Or cash but not having the right change. Or arguing over the bill etc.
- Managing the volume of calls during busy periods, while still getting the mail, reconciliations and banking done.

And that’s just a few …

Well justmary hopefully with you sensitive nature! that you do not work anywhere near any medical field, Mental patents scaring other people, are you serious??? Hopefullly you will never have any issues yourself or you will be the one doing the scaring eh

mad_shopaholic

marnieb wrote: »

Well justmary hopefully with you sensitive nature! that you do not work anywhere near any medical field, Mental patents scaring other people, are you serious??? Hopefullly you will never have any issues yourself or you will be the one doing the scaring eh

+1!!! lol

Mrs OBumble

marnieb wrote: »

Well justmary hopefully with you sensitive nature! that you do not work anywhere near any medical field, Mental patents scaring other people, are you serious??? Hopefullly you will never have any issues yourself or you will be the one doing the scaring eh

:rolleyes:

One of us has clearly worked / volunteered in an area that required dealing with people living with mental illnesses, and implementing strategies like offering cups of tea to distract people, having two separate waiting areas, re-arranging appointments so that acutely ill people were seen ASAP and didn't have to wait, calling the guards to remove abusive substance abusers, etc.

Like it or not some mental illness come with behaviours that scare people - especially people who are vulnerable, eg because they're sick themselves. Not all, just some. And it is one of the challenges that someone managing a GP's reception area has to deal with.

Ophiopogon

I would agree with JustMary's list.

It's not being insensitive and it works both ways esp when you only have a small waiting room. Its just people management.

KathleenMcCabe

Other things to consider - are patient medical records in written format or electronic?
Issues to face in this respect are - lost chart/records or missing parts of records. If electronic, then the posibility of the system being down. Or duplicate charts for 1 patient.

A lot of surgeries in Dublin are now ordering a lot of blood tests online through laboratories.
(That is a question you can ask the interview panel - do they order their tests online and if not - do they plan to do so? Maybe you might get a chance to ask them what they think of online test ordering?)
- Issues that may arise from this are - system being down. Lab having issues. Samples mislayed between surgery and lab. Courriers late to collect samples and perhaps missing the lab's sample deadline for that day.

Waste collection of biohazzard materials needing organising - (the needles for bloods and used dressings etc).

surgeries and clinics generally have a written policy/working guideline or a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to deal with issues. They are the guidelines that the clinics are run on and helps them to run as smoothly as possible. Most busy surgeries will take payment in advance and refusal to pay will generally result in no consultation of the GP/Doctor.

Other appointments to be made for GP's/consultants are those that sales reps will want to make and having to organise for the Dr to attend conferences etc.

Many challenges face the day. you just need to bring across in your cv and interviews that you have a high level of empathy, able to work as part of a team as well as on your own initiative. Perhaps you can put examples on your cv from previous jobs or from a course that you've attended.

Best of luck.