Switchboard Operator

NON-ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Performs other duties as assigned and/or required.

JOB QUALIFICATIONS:

Education and Formal Training

Recommended high school diploma or the equivalent in order to maintain simple records and logs of calls made, to transmit information orally in the form of simple sentences in order to provide approved patient status information to callers, and to perform non-complex arithmetic calculation when tallying calls for activity reports. 

Experience Required:

One to three months on the job experience necessary in order to learn to operate paging, public address and telephone systems, and learn emergency procedures, code system, hospital extensions, departments, names of key hospital personnel and hospital policies and procedures.  

Licensure Required:

None required.

Other:

Excellent verbal communication skills necessary in order to communicate effectively with a wide variety of Hospital personnel, patients and outside callers when gathering and exchanging approved information.

Ability to concentrate and pay close attention to detail for up to eighty percent of work time when answering, transferring and relaying incoming phone calls, and maintaining records.  Work is frequently performed under pressure.

No exposure to blood and body fluids:  Exposure Control Level III

WORKING ENVIRONMENT:

Normal office environment with little exposure to excessive dust, temperature and the like.

Substantial (up to ninety percent of work time) exposure to excessive noise due to ringing phones from incoming calls, paging personnel and the like.