There are many jobs in a hospital setting, doctors’ office, or nursing home that would bring a person into contact with patients. I just was unsure if having worked as a medical secretary with patient contact would count enough to make a good impression on a nursing school application.
Can anyone offer advice?
Generally speaking, what are the previous job backgrounds that really make a good impression on a nursing school application?
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No, it really wouldn’t matter.
I have a feeling that it might ! ? ! … Well it might atleast contribute to your having sOmE experience in said field atleast.!’?'! G/L~!!! r`’R'`r
I have taught medical front office and medical billing and coding.
Absolutely it would make a good impression.
Think of all your transferable skills–things you already know that you will need.
Here are some off the top of my head:
1) Medical Terminology
2) You understand HIPAA and patient confidentiality.
3) You are familiar with patient charting.
4) You have experience dealing with doctors.
5) You have experience dealing with patients.
I’ve served as an Medical Office Manager over the years and trained a lot of new employees and students. It is much easier for me to train someone who has some medical background. New employees who had never served in a medical office I had to keep off the phones the first week because they didn’t yet understand patient confidentiality! Even so, one time in particular an employee slipped–right in front of the doctor! The doctor and I both smiled through it but inwardly we were almost having heart attacks! As soon as the patient left I counseled the employee after the doctor went in with another patient.
One of the most important things to consider is this. There are two things I have learned I can not teach. One is common sense. The other one is attitude. I can teach skills. However, I can not teach attitude. You either have it or you don’t!
So ask yourself—do you have the proper attitude of service? The lousy economy aside ask yourself why do you want to go into nursing? Why not computer programming, real estate or retail?
I would think it is because you want to help people, correct?
Years ago I studied medical assisting and worked doing front office and transcription. I went back to school and studied massage therapy. You’d better believe I did better than most of the other students. One had formerly been painting houses and another worked for the federal government. Of course there was also a nurse in my class but overall I still had a lot of advantages.
I knew terminology and the basics of anatomy and physiology. My instructor told me during clinic that I had the best communication with my clients that she had ever seen. I knew the proper demeanor and way to deal with patients. I understood how to document in the client’s chart. I knew which questions to ask about their pain already. Think about all you have learned from your work. I learned a lot over the years from transcribing autopsy reports and psychiatric evaluations.
Know that yes some applicants will already be an LVN/LPN (depends on which state you are in) or be a CNA. However, ANY experience will help. Realize that right now there are a lot of graduates of medical assisting and other training courses who don’t have any actual work experience.
Serving in the medical field we are held to a higher standard than other professions, as well we should be. Patients lives can be on the line. It is a very conservative field and you have experience dealing with it.
Remember you have a lot of transferable skills and certain classes will be easier for you as in you’ve already learned the material, at least some of it.
I helped my niece get into a severely impacted ROP medical assisting program. If and when you go interview for school think about things from their perspective. When my niece interviewed she was one of the last applicants of the day. She walked in, sat down and they asked her why she wanted to be a medical assistant. Before she could reply one of the instructors just lost it! She burst out laughing and couldn’t stop. She apologized and mentioned it had been a long day. One of the reasons I think my niece got in was that she validated the instructor’s reaction and said something like I can imagine sitting all day and asking the same questions over and over can get exhausting, or something like that. This had less to do with me and more with empathy on her part.
Go get them! Write out everything you have learned and rewrite, retype your blurb for your application until it is just the way you want it. You’ll know when you have it just right. Once you write your blurb if you want post it and I and others can look at it for you.
Colleges look at marks.That’s all they really care about.