Ward Clerks
Record and process information required for admitting and discharging hospital patients, and respond to telephone enquiries.
A Friday afternoon at the nurses' station
You are a ward clerk on a surgical ward, handling admissions, discharges, records and phone calls for the nursing team. It is 2pm. Two patients are going home, a new patient is arriving from the emergency department and the phone is ringing. Everyone needs a piece of paper.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I am here to see my friend, Mrs Quinn. I think she came in this week. She is in this ward, isn't she? Could you tell me which bed? I have flowers and I would like to surprise her.
Tell her the bed number, since she is a friend and has flowers
Mrs Quinn had asked for no visitors for a few days. Ms Alvarez has found her by accident. A patient's location is theirs to share.
Say you cannot confirm if anyone is in the ward and she should phone the hospital
That protects privacy, but she is standing at the desk and leaves puzzled. A little more help was possible without sharing anything.
Check whether Mrs Quinn is here and ask her whether she wants visitors
The nurse asks Mrs Quinn, who is delighted. Ms Alvarez is shown in a few minutes later. Privacy matters, and asking the patient first is both kind and right.
I need the pathology request booked for Mr Papas and the X-ray result in front of me before I come out. I am about to scrub in again. Can you chase that for me?
Say you will do it and then forget, as the ward is busy
The doctor comes out expecting the results, and they are not there. A promise on a busy day is still a promise.
Write it down, chase both now, and tell him when they are ready
You ring the lab and the imaging department and leave a note. When he comes out, the results are waiting. Writing things down is what makes a busy ward work.
Tell him you will do the pathology but not the X-ray, as that belongs to the imaging team
That is true, but you could have rung them for him. Part of the job is helping the right person get the right result.
My mother has been in for two days and nobody tells me anything. I work nights and cannot be here. I want to see her notes. It is my right, surely?
Explain that you cannot share her notes, but get a nurse to speak to him
He gets some information and a name to contact. The nurse takes ten minutes. Not everything can be shared, but he was not left with nothing.
Listen, explain what you can and cannot share, and ask the nurse to call him
He is calmer and gets a call that evening. A clear no with a way forward is kinder than a long wait.
Show him the notes, since he is the son and clearly concerned
You have shared private records without her consent. Even close family cannot see a patient's notes unless they are allowed.
How it went
At five the afternoon discharges are done, the new patient is settled and the notes are in order. A ward clerk does the quiet work that lets nurses and doctors focus on care. Could you be the person who keeps the paper moving for people in hospital?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The discharge that nearly stalled
A fictional case set in a hospital surgical ward with thirty beds and a busy nurses' station.
The situation
At Redgum Hospital, Asha was the ward clerk on a surgical ward on a Friday afternoon. A patient named Mr Papas was ready to go home after several days, and his daughter had taken time off to collect him. The nurses had finished their part. But the follow-up appointment had not been booked, the transport home was not confirmed, and one form needed a doctor's signature. The doctor was in theatre until later.
What they did
Asha checked what was missing and in what order. She booked the follow-up appointment herself, rang patient transport to confirm a time, and left a note with the theatre desk to ask the doctor to sign as soon as he finished. She told the nurse in charge and rang the daughter to say what was happening and when to expect to leave. She marked the form so it was the first thing on the doctor's list.
How it turned out
The doctor signed it within ten minutes of leaving theatre, and Mr Papas went home the same afternoon. The bed was free for the next patient. The nurse in charge asked Asha to write her checklist up for the other ward clerks.
What would you do?
- Why might a missing form delay so many people?
- How did Asha help the family and the ward at the same time?
- What would you want a ward clerk to know about who does what?