Medical Secretaries’ Registration Work in the Data-Driven Healthcare Era

Abstract

Through a qualitative study in six hospital departments in the Northern Region of Denmark, this article aims to shed light on how a non-clinical group, medical secretaries, supports clinical-administrative documentation as they translate between the clinical and administrative domains. This article shows how this demands context-sensitive knowledge and skills acquired through deep engagement with the full scope of clinical-administrative work at the department level. We argue that, given the increasing ambitions for secondary uses of healthcare data, specific clinical-administrative competencies beyond those of clinicians are increasingly necessary in the skillmix in hospitals.