Do You Have These Important Healthcare Computer Skills?

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To work in healthcare, you need compassion to interact with patients, knowledge of medical terminology to communicate with doctors and nurses, and time management skills to balance all your duties throughout the day. But what you may not have realized is that you also need some solid tech skills. As the field digitizes more of its processes and paperwork, it’s critical to hone your computer skills so you don’t get left behind. Do you have the skills you’ll need?

Electronic Health Record Keeping

A patient’s medical records are updated with each visit to the hospital or doctor’s office. Those records include important information such as test results, diagnoses and treatment plans, prescriptions, and notes from doctors’ visits. And now most of those records are kept electronically. Depending on your role, you may need to use these systems to accurately update patient records or retrieve information to put together a patient chart.

Medical Billing and Coding

If you work in billing and coding, you assign a set of alphanumeric symbols to diagnoses and treatments so insurance companies can cover the patient’s medical costs. While you don’t need to memorize all 65,000 codes, you should be familiar with the most common ones. The rest can be looked up in your coding software. That same software may also help you manage insurance claims and track patient payments on the billing side of your job.

Healthcare Scheduling Apps

Healthcare scheduling apps can help medical staff schedule and keep track of patient appointments. With this software, you can create electronic appointments and send notifications to patients, manage how many appointments you book in one day, and notify patients of changes without ever picking up the telephone. This technology helps you keep the waiting room running smoothly and avoid overbooking appointments.

Electronic Prescriptions

If you work as a pharmacy technician, you won’t have to decipher the doctor’s terrible handwriting. Now you can receive and read prescriptions electronically. E-prescriptions allow a doctor to quickly and safely transmit a prescription directly to the pharmacy. As a pharmacy technician, you access these prescriptions and follow the directions to prepare a prescription under the direction of a pharmacist. And you can do it before the patient even arrives.

Basic Healthcare Computer Skills

Don’t forget that it’s still important to learn basic computer skills. You should know how to send and receive emails and how to use the Microsoft Office Suite. With this software, you can take notes in a word document, keep track of data in a spreadsheet, or create a presentation for a meeting. You should also become familiar with Microsoft Teams, which allows you to send instant messages to co-workers, share files, and video conference. While the organization you work at might use different software, becoming familiar with one will help you understand how many of them work.

Would you like to work in the multi-trillion-dollar healthcare sector? Contact Charter College today. We offer a variety of healthcare training programs that can prepare you for an entry-level career in the field. Classes are enrolling now. Call 888-200-9942 or fill out the form for more information.