Top 12 Unit Secretary Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's fast-paced healthcare environment, a Unit Secretary anchors the flow of information and keeps the unit humming. A focused resume that shows depth across admin, tech, and patient-facing skills can lift your application out of the stack and signal you’re the dependable nerve center a team wants.

Unit Secretary Skills

1. Typing Speed
2. Microsoft Office
3. Medical Terminology
4. EHR Systems
5. HIPAA Compliance
6. Multitasking
7. Scheduling Software
8. Patient Registration
9. Data Entry
10. Cerner
11. Epic Systems
12. Telephone Etiquette

1. Typing Speed

Typing speed is the ability to enter text with accuracy and efficiency, usually measured in words per minute. It matters when orders pile up, phones ring, and documentation can’t wait.

Why It's Important

Fast, accurate typing cuts lag. Notes get filed quickly, orders move, messages land where they should. Fewer errors, fewer callbacks, fewer bottlenecks.

How to Improve Typing Speed Skills

1. Adopt touch typing. Eyes on the screen, not the keys. Muscle memory wins the day.
2. Set posture and ergonomics right: straight back, relaxed shoulders, neutral wrists, monitor at eye level.
3. Drill daily for short bursts. Ten minutes of focused practice beats an hour of distracted tabbing.
4. Chase accuracy first. Speed follows when you stop fixing typos.
5. Learn system and app shortcuts you use every day. Seconds saved add up.
6. Track progress weekly. Raise targets in small steps, not leaps.

How to Display Typing Speed Skills on Your Resume

2. Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and often OneNote and Teams—covers the everyday backbone of documents, spreadsheets, messages, and meetings.

Why It's Important

It’s where memos live, rosters get built, and inboxes stay sane. Clean formatting, tight spreadsheets, and timely communication reflect well on the whole unit.

How to Improve Microsoft Office Skills

1. Build templates for the forms and letters you reuse. Less rework, fewer format mismatches.
2. Memorize core shortcuts in Word, Excel, and Outlook. They feel small until they don’t.
3. Use Outlook rules, categories, and calendar sharing to tame chaos and prevent missed appointments.
4. Automate repetitive tasks with Quick Parts, mail merge, and basic macros where appropriate.
5. Leverage Excel tables, filters, conditional formatting, and COUNTIF/VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP for auditing lists fast.
6. Store files in shared drives or OneDrive with versioning. Name things clearly. Your future self will thank you.
7. Keep presentations brisk and readable; default to fewer words, clearer visuals.

How to Display Microsoft Office Skills on Your Resume

3. Medical Terminology

The language of anatomy, conditions, procedures, and orders. Understanding it keeps messages crisp, records accurate, and directions unambiguous.

Why It's Important

It prevents miscommunication, speeds triage, and reduces back-and-forth. You spot what matters at a glance and file it correctly the first time.

How to Improve Medical Terminology Skills

1. Study in short, themed sets: body systems, common procedures, root words and suffixes.
2. Use flashcards and spaced repetition. Daily cycles stick.
3. Read real-world materials—discharge summaries, order sets, patient instructions—and annotate unfamiliar terms.
4. Create a personal glossary for your unit’s most frequent terms and abbreviations. Update it relentlessly.
5. Practice pronouncing terms out loud. Confidence on the phone matters.

How to Display Medical Terminology Skills on Your Resume

4. EHR Systems

Electronic Health Records are the digital home for patient information. Scheduling, admissions, orders, documentation, secure messaging—everything meets there.

Why It's Important

EHR proficiency means fewer clicks to the right place, cleaner data, smoother handoffs, and faster answers when clinicians need them.

How to Improve EHR Systems Skills

1. Master your organization’s workflows first: ADT (admit/discharge/transfer), registration, scheduling, order routing, chart retrieval.
2. Customize your view—favorites, filters, quick actions, and frequently used reports—to cut navigation time.
3. Learn role-specific modules you touch daily (e.g., scheduling, inpatient unit tasks, messaging). Go deep, not just broad.
4. Shadow a super user for one shift. Small tricks change your day.
5. Practice data hygiene: correct patient, correct encounter, standardized fields before free text.
6. Document issues and submit feedback. Tiny fixes can remove recurring pain points for everyone.

How to Display EHR Systems Skills on Your Resume

5. HIPAA Compliance

HIPAA guards the privacy and security of protected health information. In practice, it’s vigilance—who sees what, how it’s shared, and where it’s stored.

Why It's Important

Trust rides on confidentiality. Compliance avoids breaches, fines, and most importantly, protects patients’ dignity.

How to Improve HIPAA Compliance Skills

1. Follow the “minimum necessary” rule. Share only what’s needed, with the right person, for the right purpose.
2. Verify identity before discussing PHI—every time. No shortcuts.
3. Lock screens, secure documents, shred properly, and clear desks. Physical safety matters as much as digital.
4. Use approved, secure messaging and encrypted email channels for PHI. Avoid personal devices unless explicitly authorized.
5. Watch for phishing and social engineering. When in doubt, pause and verify through known channels.
6. Report incidents immediately. Early action limits harm.

How to Display HIPAA Compliance Skills on Your Resume

6. Multitasking

In reality, it’s rapid prioritization and clean task switching. Calls, clinicians at the desk, a bed request, a courier waiting—everything at once, but handled in sequence.

Why It's Important

It keeps the unit moving. The right task first, then the next, with nothing lost in the shuffle.

How to Improve Multitasking Skills

1. Build a visible queue: a simple list or board with time stamps. Work from it ruthlessly.
2. Tag tasks by urgency and impact. Life safety and patient flow outrank paperwork.
3. Create micro-routines: batch calls, batch messages, batch filing at set intervals.
4. Use timers for focus blocks and quick check-ins between interruptions.
5. Communicate status aloud when needed—brief, clear updates keep teammates aligned.
6. Decline or defer non-urgent asks during surges. Protect quality.

How to Display Multitasking Skills on Your Resume

7. Scheduling Software

Tools that coordinate appointments, staff shifts, and room or resource availability. The calendar is the heartbeat; accuracy is the pulse.

Why It's Important

Well-built schedules prevent double-booked rooms, idle providers, and frustrated patients. Fewer surprises, smoother days.

How to Improve Scheduling Software Skills

1. Learn your platform’s core modules thoroughly (e.g., blocks, templates, waitlists, overbooks, recurring rules).
2. Master search and eligibility checks before confirming. Verify prerequisites and authorizations up front.
3. Use standardized naming and notes for special cases so anyone can read the schedule and understand constraints quickly.
4. Maintain and audit templates regularly to match real-world staffing and clinic patterns.
5. Apply escalation rules for urgent add-ons and same-day requests. Document the trail.
6. Review no-shows and late cancels weekly. Adjust reminders and lead times accordingly.

How to Display Scheduling Software Skills on Your Resume

8. Patient Registration

Collecting accurate demographics, coverage, consents, and contact details at the door—clean data from the start.

Why It's Important

It drives correct billing, safe care, and reliable communication. One typo can ripple into delays and denials.

How to Improve Patient Registration Skills

1. Verify identity with two identifiers. Always. Avoid assumptions based on similar names.
2. Confirm address, phone, email, emergency contact, language preference, and accessibility needs without skipping fields.
3. Capture insurance details precisely and check eligibility before scheduling or arrival when possible.
4. Use checklists for consents, authorizations, and required forms by visit type.
5. Summarize back to the patient to confirm accuracy. Read-backs catch errors.
6. Flag special conditions—isolation, interpreter needs, mobility devices—so the team is ready.

How to Display Patient Registration Skills on Your Resume

9. Data Entry

Entering information precisely into the right fields, fast. Dropdowns where possible, standardized values when available, free text only when needed.

Why It's Important

Good data powers good care. It also supports reporting, compliance, and less rework for everyone downstream.

How to Improve Data Entry Skills

1. Use structured fields, templates, and smart forms before typing long notes.
2. Develop a verification rhythm: patient, encounter, field, save. Then a quick scan for outliers.
3. Learn hotkeys and navigation patterns in your EHR and office apps to reduce mouse clicks.
4. Batch similar entries to stay in the same mental mode longer and cut context switching.
5. Adopt consistent abbreviations approved by your facility; avoid ambiguous shorthand.
6. Audit a small sample of your entries weekly. Find error patterns and fix the root cause.

How to Display Data Entry Skills on Your Resume

10. Cerner

Cerner, now part of Oracle Health, is a widely used EHR platform supporting scheduling, ADT workflows, clinical documentation, and communication across care teams.

Why It's Important

Proficiency shortens the path from request to result. You find the right chart, route the right message, and schedule without collisions.

How to Improve Cerner Skills

1. Focus on the modules you touch most (e.g., PowerChart, FirstNet, scheduling, ADT). Drill common scenarios until they’re reflexive.
2. Set up favorites, filters, and personal views to cut clicks and surface frequent tasks.
3. Learn common order and message routing rules to prevent misdirected work.
4. Keep a quick-reference list of encounter types, locations, and reason codes used on your unit.
5. Review release notes from your organization. Small interface changes can hide time savers.

How to Display Cerner Skills on Your Resume

11. Epic Systems

Epic is a leading EHR used across inpatient and ambulatory settings. For Unit Secretaries, common touchpoints include Grand Central (ADT), Cadence (scheduling), and In Basket messaging.

Why It's Important

Epic skills streamline patient flow, minimize errors, and keep providers informed without chase calls.

How to Improve Epic Systems Skills

1. Customize SmartPhrases and SmartLinks for routine communications and documentation.
2. Learn keyboard shortcuts and navigator layouts in Hyperspace to jump between tasks swiftly.
3. Use workqueues and reports to monitor pending appointments, bed requests, and incomplete tasks.
4. Maintain clear comments and visit notes in Cadence for special scheduling needs.
5. Practice In Basket triage rules: route, reply, or escalate with consistent subject lines and concise summaries.

How to Display Epic Systems Skills on Your Resume

12. Telephone Etiquette

Professional, calm phone handling: clear greeting, careful listening, respectful tone, tight documentation, and timely follow-through.

Why It's Important

Every call shapes a patient’s impression and a clinician’s day. Clarity on the line prevents confusion in the hall.

How to Improve Telephone Etiquette Skills

1. Open with a warm, consistent greeting that includes unit and name. Set the tone.
2. Verify identity before discussing anything sensitive. Protect PHI without sounding rigid.
3. Listen fully, paraphrase back, confirm the ask. Eliminate guesswork.
4. Keep a quick script for common scenarios—refills, directions, transfers, urgent messages.
5. Know the escalation tree cold. Route high-risk calls immediately and document the handoff.
6. Close the loop: recap next steps, confirm contact details, and thank the caller.

How to Display Telephone Etiquette Skills on Your Resume