Medical assistants are respected members of the healthcare team. They deliver the caring touch within the confines of a medical office and make a difference by helping people from all backgrounds, ages, and walks of life!

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What Is A Medical Assistant?

What Is A Medical Assistant?

Medical Assistant's In the USA

Medical assistants in the USA are regarded as integral members of the modern healthcare team! They are best described as unlicensed allied health professionals* with a limited scope of practice that can vary from state to state (*allied health professionals work in clinical healthcare professions distinct from medicine and nursing).

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The Medical Assitant's Duties:

Medical assistant's duties include clinical and administrative tasks, such as answering telephones, checking appointments, arranging laboratory services, photocopying medical records, and handling billing and bookkeeping tasks. This goes hand-in-hand with obtaining demographic information from patients that arrive for their appointment. Also, organizing the patient's medical records and taking them into the clinical area for check-ups, exams, or treatments is part of the daily routine. By taking care of essential front and back office tasks the medical assistant allows the healthcare provider, such as doctors, nurses, and other practitioners to focus directly on the patient's medical needs and health concerns without being bogged down with the daily office routine that is vitally important to running the practice.

What A Medical Assistant Is NOT:

What as medical assistant is NOT is a licensed healthcare professional or practicing healthcare provider! It is extremely important to understand that all medical assistants, whether certified or not, are required to abide by all rules, and work under the direct supervision of a licensed physician, or licensed healthcare provider who assign them their medical office routines and duties. Just because they work under the "umbrella" of the medical doctor or practitioner who hired them, does not mean that they will not be sued for negligence or named in a malpractice law suit if something went wrong.

Responsibilities

It's important to understand that attention to details are important and compassion is a must! You are expected to be dedicated, caring and compassionate as you will be closely involved in people's lives and caring for people in adverse conditions, and with diverse health concerns. The responsibilities of medical assistants vary from state to state, but it will always include assisting patients getting ready for their visit with the doctor, preparing for the exam, accurately taking vital signs, administering medications, setting up monitoring and therapeutic devices such as an electrocardiogram, portable oximetry apparatus, pulmonary updraft machinery, and many other procedures to help physicians diagnose and treat various ailments.

On 04/29/2008 illy shared with us the following:

Contributed by "illy".

I am a CMA and have been working for just over a year, I have already gotten $2.50 more an hour in just a little over a year. CMA's are very vital to a clinic or hospital. We do it ALL.

What I Do: I room up to 30 patients a day by myself. When I am not rooming, I am helping the receptionist answer multiple phone lines, medical records, faxing prescriptions, filing, preparing charts for future appointments...

My list is long:

— Maintain patient’s safe passage in and out of the clinic, and ancillary services

— Greet, assess and interview patients

— File paperwork, lab slips, and insurance information into the medical charts

— Obtain past medical and surgical history, family history, social history, vital signs

— Review present medications, allergy history, chief complaint, and brief interrogation of complaint

— Act as a liaison between doctor and patient

— Explain medication, side effects, treatments, diets, diseases and disease processes

— Update medication list and current problem list

— Prepare and assist patients for examination, treatment, or procedure by medical staff

— Anticipate needs of patients, and the doctor under whom I work

— Monitoring of patient during examination, or procedure

— Maintain and update level of skill for pertinent medical assistant duties

— Maintain patient care areas

— Stocking and ordering of supplies as needed

— Charge and code supplies, medications, and procedures

— Respond to patient’s concerns in person or by telephone while simultaneously documenting the problem

— Maintains patient confidentiality

— Participate in training and skills development of new medical assistants

Professionalism and Integrity

No where is the need for personal integrity as great as in the medical and healthcare field where doctors, nurses and medical assistants continually deal with people in need of care for their illnesses and often financial and personal problems.

"I Am a Proud Medical Assistant"

Contributed by "MA15Years".

I never want someone to think I am practicing as a RN in any way! I really love my work and continue to do so every day. I appreciate opportunities to learn from fellow staff and healthcare members, which includes RN's, LPN's, Dr's, and medical office support staff. We all work as a team, sharing valuable skills to help our patients! Where each one is willing to lend a helping hand much good can be done, even in the smallest offices and lowest positions---which there never is such a thing, anyway.

Key To Medical Assistant Success: Care for your patients as it was your mother, your father, grandmother etc., and you will have happy patients, which trickles down to happy co-workers. And most, and foremost, treat others the way you want to be treated and be proud of your title, yourself, and your accomplishments (Contributed by "MA15Years").

Attitude

Whenever the medical assistant interacts with others communication must be carried out in a honest and compassionate manner, while treating everybody equally with understanding, dignity, caring, and kindness! A general attitude of friendliness and empathy can go a long way.

Dependability

Doctors and patients expect their medical assistants to be reliable, truthful, trustworthy, and confident.

Medical Assistant professionalism

How much is their pay?

Where are the jobs?