Medical Office Assistant & Health Unit Coordinator

Medical Office Assistant & Health Unit Coordinator

With the aging population, the tremendous advancements in technology, and our demand for the best quality of life, the healthcare industry is facing a growing shortage of well trained personnel. Throughout the North American healthcare industry, there is an acute need to increase the size of the workforce, and raise the skill level of that workforce.

Program duration: 51 weeks
Class Schedule: Mon - Fri

This program is designed to provide employment-ready and comprehensively trained graduates. Successful graduates will achieve the Certified Medical Assisting Professional (CMAP) designation in addition to their diploma. These graduates are fully qualified to work in a hands-on administrative and clinical support capacity in the medical industry. They will participate in a variety of lectures which cover topics of the healthcare industry, such as:

• Medical office reception and customer service
• Patient registration and patient scheduling
• Basic medical transcription
• Patient filing methods and record keeping
• Supplies and inventory maintenance
• Billing and collection procedures
• Provincial and federal health governing bodies
• Understanding coding and claims processing
• Aseptic concepts and infection control
• Vital signs, First Aid and CPR – Level C
• Clinical assistance with preparation of exam rooms
• Principles of Electrocardiography
• Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS)
• Professional behaviour in the workplace
• Medicine and ethics
• Interpersonal skills and telephone techniques
• Understanding an electronic health record (EHR) and electronic medical record (EMR)
• Job description of the HUC
• Hospital admission and registration procedures
• Transcribing doctors’ orders
• Health Unit Coordinator (HUC) filing methods and record keeping for hospital patients
• Supplies and inventory maintenance of a nursing unit
• Understanding emergency response codes
• Concepts for maintaining an aseptic environment and infection control within different hospital units
• Recording vital signs
• Identifying different types of hospitals and their functions and the wards within those hospitals
• Professional conduct specific to inpatient facilities
• Medical malpractice and ethical principles for patient care
• Interpersonal skills and telephone techniques specific to a hospital
• Inter-hospital communication and standard chart forms
• Working knowledge of nursing units and hospital administration
• Nursing intervention and treatment orders
• Different psychiatric disorders and treatments
• Therapies for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse
• Therapies for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse
• Autopsy\postmortem examination documentation
• Roles of an attending physician and a hospital resident
• Operational guidelines within the hospital organizational chart
• The difference between clinical and nonclinical duties and treatment procedures, including an
• understanding of mental disorders and treatments, workplace ethics, and processing medication

Program Objectives

This program provides students with the base knowledge,skills, and work experience to become permanently employable in a medical setting. Skill development is delivered in these areas:

• Comprehensive medical administrative knowledge, which includes medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, medical office and clinical administrative procedure.
• In-depth hospital administrative knowledge of nursing units, emergency response codes, infection control and treatment procedures, including an understanding of mental disorders and treatments, workplace ethics, and processing medication,, laboratory and doctors’ orders.

Program Notes

• Financial assistance may be available to qualified students.
• Graduation requirements: students must achieve a minimum program mark of 75% to obtain a diploma,as well as the successful completion of a 160 hour Clinical Preceptorship

Admissions Requirements

• Clear Criminal Record Check
• Completion of Grade 12 or equivalent, or 19 years of age or older with completion of the CAST testing
• Adequate level of physical health to be able to fulfill job requirements
• Completion of Wonderlic admission test with a minimum score of 18
• Good command of the English language – both written and verbal
• N-95 Mask Fit Testing which may be mandatory based on provincial requirements
• Hepatitis B, other vaccinations and/or a TB test maybe required by this industry
• Completion of standard registration form