At some of our office locations, we have a specified OA shift called the “Pretester.” This position is an assist to the OAs who are working with doctors, and handles some of the special testing, cleaning tasks, initial work up of the patient, and more. We created this shift for offices that have a particularly busy patient schedule, as the assistance the pretester provides (by taking care of some of the initial OA responsibilities for each patient) allows the doctor’s OA to stay on schedule and keep up with the busy pace. If you are scheduled as the pretester, here are the responsibilities that you will assume:

  1. Help to work up patients in a timely manner.

    1. The pretester assists the doctors’ OA with workups. This means that if the next patient arrives, but the doctor’s OA is still scribing with the doctor back in the exam room, the pretester is able to start the normal workup on the next patient so that the doctor doesn’t get behind. If multiple patients are available for the pretester to workup, they should work them up in the order suggested below.

  2. Complete any additional testing the doctor needs after examination.

    1. Sometimes, after the doctor examines the patient, they need additional testing completed before the patient leaves (such as photos of a new freckle they found on the patient’s retina at the dilation)

  3. Help to manage patient flow so that the doctors never have to wait to see a patient.

    1. The pretester is in a unique place to help with patient flow management because they interact with both doctors schedules at the same time. They should help to orchestrate the flow of patient’s through the office so that both the patient and the doctor stay on time.

order of responsibilities

If you are a new pretester, it can be tricky to know which tests, tasks, patients to handle first. Here is a handy guide to remember which tasks you should complete first and in what order:

  1. Any special testing appointments,

  2. Additional testing for a patient while in the office (such as photos, octopus, OCT’s, etc)

  3. New patients

  4. The doctor that is running behind.

    Special note: Be sure to check the doctors’ schedules to ensure you’re taking them back in the correct order. If a patient is early but another doctor has a patient that’s appt is in 10 minutes take back the patient that’s appt is closest to the current time. Remember the #1 goal as a pretester is to keep the doctors on time.

If you are all caught up on special testings, additional testings, new patients, and no doctor is running behind, you are welcome to work on previous charts.

Last task of the Pretester: At the end of the day after pretesting is complete the pretester should help close some rooms prior to leaving for the day. Typically room 7 and pretest (if done with the machines for the day) are good to close to help the closer that evening.