Elizabeth Bongat

Hello, I am Elizabeth

I am a virtual assistant aspiring to work as a medical chat support assistant. Aspiring is the exact word, and I use it deliberately: I have not been hired in this role yet.

I will tell you the true thing first, because you would learn it anyway and I would rather you hear it from me. I have no paid virtual assistant experience yet, though I did work as a dental clinic secretary in 2010 before 13 years in production operations. What I do have is a written method, sample chats showing how I would handle both an ordinary request and a difficult one, a clear statement of what I would never do, and a paid trial week small enough that finding out whether I suit your practice costs you very little.

I care about this kind of work because the person on the other side of the chat is usually worried about something. A nervous patient, a refill that never arrived, a charge they do not recognise. Kindness matters, and so does discipline. I am training myself to bring both.

On hours: I can work to your time zone rather than mine. I am ready to cover US or Australian hours, including early mornings, late evenings and overnight shifts, so your patients are answered during your working day.

Healthcare experience

I worked as a dental clinic secretary in 2010, after completing Health Care Services NC II. I managed patient appointments and scheduling, handled enquiries in person and by phone including anxious patients, and kept patient records confidential. It is where my interest in patient-facing work began, and it is why I later trained in HIPAA compliance.

That was followed by 13 years in production operations at Continental Philippines, where daily documentation, information verification and reporting were the core of the job. Both came down to the same thing: confirm the detail, act once, write it down.

What I can take off your hands

I would handle the written front door of a practice: the inbound chats, messages and emails that arrive when a patient needs something. I resolve what a support desk may resolve, and route anything clinical upward quickly and cleanly.

The routine I would follow, every time

This is what I have been practising. It is the same six steps on every chat, and it is what keeps a busy desk from producing the kind of error that turns into a complaint.

A sample conversation: moving an appointment

A practice chat I have written out to show my handling. The patient and the record here are fictional, and this is a demonstration rather than a real client conversation.

Three small choices make that chat feel easy. I checked the option the patient actually wanted before offering anything else, so they never heard a plain no. I asked one question per message, because three questions at once get a partial answer and a second round trip. And I closed on the confirmation and the released slot rather than on the action itself, so there is no reason for the patient to come back and check.

A sample conversation: a refill request

This is the harder one, and the chat I would most want you to read. A patient has run out of medication and wants a timeline. The whole conversation is about separating what a support desk may do from what only a prescriber may decide, and being honest with the patient about the difference.

What I was protecting in that chat

• I gave no clinical reassurance. Whether running out of that medication is dangerous is a clinician's question, so I sent it where it belongs instead of answering it myself.
• I gave a triage instruction rather than an urgency verdict. Contact the urgent line or emergency services, and say what you take. I did not decide how serious it was, and I did not slow anyone down.
• I kept the patient's own description as their description. They identified the medication by colour and shape, so the record says that, and the prescriber verifies.
• I chose an honest answer over a comfortable one. A timeline I cannot control is a timeline I will not invent.

Skills and tools

I want to be precise about this, because a client has every right to ask what I can actually do on day one. Below is what I have genuinely used, what I have trained in, and what I expect to be learning inside your own system. I have not listed software I have never opened.

Why hire me while I am still starting out

I am not yet working in this role, so the honest thing is to say what I am now and what I am asking for. I am an aspiring medical chat support virtual assistant, looking for the first client who will let me prove the method above. If you run a practice, taking on an assistant comes down to one question: what happens if this goes wrong. I would rather answer that plainly than talk around it.

Rates while I build my experience

Because I am at the start of my career and have not yet worked in this role, I am pricing accordingly. I am asking $3 to $5 per hour as an entry-level rate, and I am happy to be reviewed after the first month so that we both know whether the rate still fits what I am delivering.

How an engagement runs

What I need from you to get started

Setting up is quick when these are in place. If any are missing we can work around them, but the first two shorten the ramp considerably.

• Access to your support inbox and chat tool, under an account you control rather than mine.
• A short written scope: what support staff may resolve alone, and what must be routed onward.
• Your escalation routes and working hours, and the emergency instruction you want given word for word.
• Your house rules on tone, greeting and sign-off, so replies read as your practice and not as a stranger.
• Any compliance requirements you work under, and the confidentiality agreement you want signed.