I am part-time, I don’t know anything?: Untrained, no experience clinic assistants $7 an hour?

March 2, 2014

Good service and improving service quality?

I refer to the article “Changing norms about good service and improving service quality will take time ..” (Straits Times, Mar 2).

Service and professionalism in clinics?

In this connection, a good friend who is a medical professional for about 40 years lamented about the deterioration in the level of service and professionalism in some private clinics. I also spoke to my regular healthcare insider.

Part-time untrained no experience clinic assistants?

Apparently, the use of part-time untrained staff (clinic assistants) with no experience has become quite prevalent.

Dispensing errors?

I was told that there has also been dispensing errors.

Job description in ads?

Looking at some of the job advertisements for clinic assistants, you can see that they generally say – part-time, no experience required, N level upwards, from $7 an hour, 2 or 3 nights a week, tertiary students or people with full time jobs looking for permanent evening and weekend jobs are encouraged to try – duties include dispensing medication, taking blood pressure, assist in minor surgery and dressings, etc,

Low pay?

So, does it mean that if one works part-time for 3 nights a week (3 hours a night) – the monthly pay may only be about $252?

Some typical job ads?

Some of the job advertisements are reproduced below.

Full time Clinic Assistant
Full time Clinic assistant needed in a clinic with pleasant surroundings. Your job includes registering patients, dispensing medications, assist in minor surgery and dressings etc, You need to be computer literate and have good social skills, No experience necessary, Training provided, Only Singaporeans and PRs.

Permanent part time clinic assistant wanted
Permanent part time clinic assistant wanted for General Practice doctor’s clinic in Ang Mo Kio. Timings from 6pm-9pm, two or three weekday nights and alternate Saturdays 8.30am-2pm. Experience preferred but tertiary students or people with full time jobs looking for permanent evening and weekend jobs are encouraged to try. Pay starts from $7/hr – $10/ hr depending on experience in this field . Please email resume with photo and full name to the email addess: ..

Same answer to every question?

I accompanied a friend to a private clinic and heard the clinic assistant say 4 times – “I am part-time staff. I don’t know anything” – in response to 4 different questions!

Attitude, productivity and service levels?

With this kind of attitude – is it any wonder that productivity and service levels may have been going down the drain in Singapore?

Who regulates what regulations?

I was curious as to who regulates private clinics and what are the regulations?

In this connection, according to the

“PRIVATE HOSPITALS AND MEDICAL CLINICS ACT

(CHAPTER 248, SECTION 22)

Drugs

41.

—(1)  All personnel in a medical clinic, other than registered pharmacists, shall work under the direct supervision of the medical practitioner or the dentist, as the case may be.

(2)  The medical practitioner or the dentist in a medical clinic shall be fully responsible for all activities involved in the preparation and dispensing of medicinal products, including the maintenance of appropriate records.

(3)  Every medical clinic shall comply with regulation 28 when dealing with drugs.
Clinic practices

43.

—(1)  Every licensee of a medical clinic shall not delegate any duty to any staff which can only be performed by the medical practitioner or the dentist.

(2)  All clinical procedures shall be carried out by a medical practitioner, dentist or other qualified person who has adequate training and experience in the use of any equipment used for carrying out such procedures.”
Leong Sze Hian
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About the Author

Leong
Leong Sze Hian has served as the president of 4 professional bodies, honorary consul of 2 countries, an alumnus of Harvard University, authored 4 books, quoted over 1500 times in the media , has been a radio talkshow host, a newspaper daily columnist, Wharton Fellow, SEACeM Fellow, columnist for theonlinecitizen and Malaysiakini, executive producer of Ilo Ilo (40 international awards), Hotel Mumbai (associate producer), invited to speak more than 200 times in about 40 countries, CIFA advisory board member, founding advisor to the Financial Planning Associations of 2 countries. He has 3 Masters, 2 Bachelors degrees and 13 professional  qualifications.