Job Description Final Draft
💖💖Dental Office – Administrative Assistant💖💖
Sometimes internship experiences feel like pulling teeth... and sometimes that is literal!
My favorite job experience was related to some people’s biggest fears. In the Summer of 2023, I interned as an administrative assistant in a private dental practice. Before taking on the role, I imagined the position would be like something out of movies like The Devil Wears Prada. Thankfully, this was not the case, and my direct managers guided me well. I left the experience with a deeper understanding of my fields of study. Administrative assistants’ responsibilities vary from one field to another, and here I will outline the responsibilities within healthcare.
In my internship position, my obligations included:
- Financial Services
- Client Relations
- Inner-Office Communications
Financial Services
The main points of my role in financial services were:
- Bookkeeping
- Payment processing
- Payroll
Every day began with turning on the office lights and logging into various computers. Then, with a familiar jangle, my manager would open the bookkeeping drawer and we would start the accounting of the daily logs. Flipping through cash and check payments was arduous. When that was complete, I moved into my workstation and log into the payment system where I would manually review the insurance processing from the last month. I ensured that the codes for claims were accurate and that there was not a holdup with the payment delivery. This sounds like a nightmare, but it was quite fun. At the end of the day, when the patients had come and gone, I joined my manager to assist her with payroll. We used the printing calculator to go through everyone’s hours, lunch breaks, and days off to ensure accurate paychecks. By the end of the process, the calculator’s receipt would be in a cartoonish pile on my manager’s desk.
Client Relations
My favorite part of my internship was the opportunity I had to connect with members of the community. Now, of course, I cannot disclose too much information as I signed the standard HIPPA documents. What I can say will be highly generalized statements. Public service workers like firefighters were frequently my favorite patients. They had a quick wit about them and was pleasantly surprised by their friendliness. Sometimes our patients would bring the entire staff treats out of appreciation for the services we provided. I clearly remember the hubbub caused by a patient bringing in an entire key lime pie for us to enjoy. On a melancholy note, I learned about the personal hardships my patients faced. Coming off the tail-end of Covid, it was not rare for a patient to update us on the passing of their loved ones. In a few scenarios, this information was for our records, but in others, it was simply a case of loneliness that led them to confide in our staff. Positive or negative, the connection I built with our patients was special.
Office Communications
A consistent pleasure of mine came from using the inner-office communication channels. My coworkers (ladies twice my age) were hilarious in their ways. Part of my responsibility was bypassing basic communication mishaps, which sometimes meant acting as a messenger around the office. My happiest messages were usually something to do with treats in the conference room. When I told a hygienist about cookies, she would joke on the communication channel that no one else gave her happy news the way I did. This responsibility was positive and highly fulfilling.
Flesch Reading Ease: 54.8
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level 9.3
Passive Sentences 0.0%
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Comments made on previous post have been saved and placed below.
First things first, the layout of your blog is so cool--I didn't even know it was possible to decorate it!
As
for your blog, I think it would be best to break up your piece into
multiple paragraphs to improve readability. The use subtitles or even
bulletpoints may be useful. I loved the hook of your blog, it's funny
and very interesting! It's also super cool learning about the
administrative side of dental offices. My boyfriend is a hygienist and
he often talks about how important an efficient administrative team is,
and it sounds like you did a great job at your internship!! Your
kindness and empathy will take you so far in your career, and I'm
confident you made a positive impact on so many of the patients and team
members you engaged with.
Based
on the way you described this job, it sounds so interesting and
wholesome! There was a natural yet witty flow to your writing, which I
loved. It made reading your blog so much fun. I also liked the way you
described your job activities; there was a clear sense of your voice
throughout. You provided enough information for us to understand what
you did without bogging us down with the nitty-gritty, mundane details.
One
way you could improve this blog, though, is by separating the text into
sections and paragraphs. You could also use bullets and formatting to
make it easier to read. Other than that, I think this was a great blog!
I also used to be an administrative assistant! My role was so diverse, and I got to see all aspects of the business, just like you! I think it's such a great intro role and can help anyone figure out what they want to do. One thing I would recommend would be to break up your blog into 4-5 paragraphs to help the reader!
Love the intro, feels very lighthearted and a great lead into the writing! Overall as well your writing feels very personal and easy to read, felt like more of a personal conversation rather than talking about tasks at an internship.
ReplyDeleteI love your casual and intimate style of writing. I laughed a bunch of times reading through your jokes, and it kept me engaged with what you were about to say next. I really liked your client relations section where you talked about your relationship with clients, and it helped me understand why you appreciated this internship so much. Great read and I hope you never change your writing style!
ReplyDeleteHi Miriam! The devil wears prada reference made me chuckle. Loved reading your post - specifically the part about client relations as that's something I enjoy doing as well. happy you had such a good experience!
ReplyDelete