Being a medical office assistant requires wearing many hats—scheduling appointments, updating patient records, billing insurance companies, and communicating with healthcare providers. It's a fast-paced job where assistants need to juggle many responsibilities at once. One of the most vital skills that helps medical office assistants effectively manage this demanding workload is proficiency in basic keyboarding. Having excellent typing skills makes completing clerical and administrative tasks on the computer more efficient. For medical office assistants looking to maximize their productivity and minimize errors, developing strong keyboarding abilities should be a top priority.
Keyboarding may seem like a basic skill, but it has an immense impact on a medical office assistant's performance. Quick and accurate data entry helps assistants keep up with the flurry of patient information that must be constantly updated and recorded in electronic medical records. Emailing back and forth with patients, doctors, and insurance companies also relies on efficiently typing out messages. While some pick up keyboarding naturally, taking the time to learn proper technique is worthwhile for mastering this critical skill. Medical office assistants who put effort into improving their keyboarding will be rewarded with enhanced productivity, fewer mistakes, and increased versatility to take on additional responsibilities in the workplace.
They include the ability to properly position your hands on the keyboard using correct finger placement for typing. For the standard QWERTY keyboard layout, the left hand rests on the ASDF keys and the right hand on the JKL; keys. Using the appropriate fingers to strike each key instead of just pecking with two fingers allows for faster typing. Basic keyboarding skills also include knowledge of how to enter capital letters, numbers, and special characters. Medical office assistants must know how to accurately type patient names, birthdates, insurance policy details, medication names, and other alphanumeric information into patient records.
Having good basic keyboarding skills helps medical office assistants in several key ways:
The faster and more accurately an assistant can type, the more work they can complete in less time. Entering patient demographics, appointment details, insurance information, and other data into EMRs is a major part of the job. Good keyboarding skills allow these tasks to be performed quicker.
When assistants have proper keyboarding technique, they are less likely to make typos and data entry errors. This ensures higher accuracy of patient records and avoids issues like erroneous billing, insurance claims being denied, and patient safety risks from incorrect medication names or details being recorded. basic keyboarding for the medical office assistant helps prevent critical mistakes.
In medical offices, assistants are often typing while speaking with patients at the front desk or taking phone calls. Patients observe their keyboarding skills and it contributes to the professional impression the medical office makes.
Email is frequently used to communicate with patients, healthcare providers like specialists and labs, and insurance companies. Proper typing helps assistants compose messages more efficiently. This facilitates clearer communication about patient needs, coordination of care, and handling of important logistics related to appointments, referrals, and billing.
Medical office assistants may be asked to serve other roles like medical transcriptionist or perform word processing tasks such as creating flyers or brochures. Having solid typing skills allows assistants to take on these additional responsibilities more readily when needed.
How can medical office assistants improve their basic keyboarding skills? Taking a typing course focused on proper keyboarding techniques is recommended for those with no prior experience. Online typing practice programs can also help assistants build speed and accuracy. And simply making the effort to use proper finger positions and typing rhythm whenever entering data at work will reinforce good keyboarding habits. Medical office assistants who strive to keep improving their basic keyboarding skills will boost their overall productivity and reduce errors, benefiting their careers as well as their workplace.
Keyboarding is a foundational skill medical office assistants rely on daily to complete critical clerical duties and manage patient records efficiently. While new assistants may only view typing as a basic task, developing proper keyboarding techniques has wide-ranging benefits. Investing time in learning appropriate finger placement and typing rhythm results in improved productivity, higher accuracy, and greater versatility.
As a skill medical office assistants use constantly when entering data, scheduling appointments, transcribing notes, and communicating via email, keyboarding proficiency is hugely valuable for their effectiveness. At AlphaLogic, we offer a myriad of course to further your professional development. Get in touch today to learn more about what we can do for you!
