Medical Assistant Job Description

September 12, 2009

 


The Medical Assistant is in charge of administrative and clinical tasks to keep the offices of physicians, podiatrists, chiropractors, and other health practitioners running as smoothly as possible.

Primary Responsibilities:

  • The Medical Assistant is in charge of some of the Administrative duties and functions in relationship to customer care.
  • The Medical Assistant is in charge of Clinical tasks for the care of the client.

The Medical Assistant has many functions in a health care facility that are related to the care of a patient. The Medical Assistant is not to be confused with a Physician Assistant who is qualified to do more patient care and diagnosis. The duties of a Medical Assistant will vary from office to office depending on the location and the size of the practice. A Medical Assistant will do more administrative duties in a smaller practice than they will in a larger practice. The larger practice usually has the Medical Assistant do more of the clinical care for the patient.

The duties of a Medical Assistant will vary in accordance to the type of health care provider and the type of services that provider does for the patients. There is a variety of places that the Medical Assistant can work which requires different types of Administrative and Clinical duties. Clinical Medical Assistants duties vary according to what is allowed by State laws. The duties of a Medical Assistant range from taking temperatures and vital signs to explaining treatment procedures to patients, preparing patients for examinations and even assisting the physician during the examination. The Medical Assistant can collect and prepare laboratory specimens and do some basic laboratory tests on the premises. The Medical Assistant often disposes of contaminated supplies and sterilizes medical instruments.

The Medical Assistant interacts with the patient helping them with their diet plan, instruct them on medications, and authorize drug refills. A Medical Assistant can authorize drug refills as directed, telephone prescriptions to the pharmacy and instruct the patient as how to take the medicine. The Medical Assistant may draw blood from a patient or get them ready for x-rays, take electrocardiograms, remove sutures, and change dressings. The Medical Assistant may arrange examine room instruments and equipment for the doctor before each examination to the patient. The Medical Assistant is normally in charge of keeping the waiting room neat and clean replacing old magazines and keeping toys for the children in order. The physicians Medical Assistant has many important functions to help keep the office running smoothly.

A Medical Assistant must be certified in order to work in a physician’s office with patients. The Medical Assistant must meet certain standards of competence in order to work with a doctor. The Medical Assistant can be certified in specialty fields such as podiatry, optometry or ophthalmology which helps to earn a higher salary. Since the Medical Assistant works with the public they must be neat and well groomed always having a pleasant manner putting patients at ease and explain physicians’ instruction with clarity. Patient’s records are always to be kept confidential so a Medical Assistant must always adhere to this policy with no exceptions. Clinical work requires a reasonable level of manual dexterity and visual acuity. The Medical Assistant can advance their level into other areas such as teach others to become a Medical Assistant. Others advance their education in order to become a nurse or other type of health care worker but being a Medical Assistant takes a lot of practice and a certification. This is a good field to be in because the field of Medical Assistant is ever growing and one of the highest ranking positions in demand today.

Many Medical Assistants are trained on the job by the doctor; however, many prefer to take a course in Medical Assistant work because it helps them to get certified faster finding a good position. There are many openings for the position of Medical Assistant in today’s market place. This is a good career for anyone who is starting out in the field of medicine. It takes very little training and you do not need to go to college for very long to become a Medical Assistant and the pay is excellent.

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