What is a Medical Assistant?

Medical Assistant

What is a Medical Assistant?

Medical Assistants are unlicensed healthcare workers who perform administrative and basic supervised clinical tasks to keep the offices of physicians, podiatrists, chiropractors, and other health practitioners running smoothly. Many also work in outpatient clinics, hospitals and healthcare centers. Medical Assistant careers are gathering demand in the background of a healthcare industry boom worldwide.

Doctors' offices are extremely busy places. There are almost constantly patients to see or consult with on the telephone, medical records and insurance records to update, tests to run, appointments to schedule, billing and bookkeeping responsibilities to handle, and many other duties and needs. Doctors may hardly have time to see all of their patients, let alone handle the rest of these tasks. This is where medical assistants step in. Medical assistants are basically the doctor's right hand. They keep the office running smoothly, taking care of any clerical and some clinical aspects so that the doctors can focus on providing direct patient care.

Many doctors have large practices, especially those in populous rural areas where there are fewer doctors per person, and if all responsibilities are left to the doctor, the quality of the patient care can suffer. There is never a typical workday as far as medical assisting is concerned because it is a very busy and varying occupation. They may focus on reception, records, and billing one day and perform simple lab tests and change dressings and sutures the next. They may even be needed to assist doctors in procedures or by taking x-rays or administering electrocardiograms. Medical assistants also explain medication and procedures to patients, providing them with the knowledge and understanding they need to better care for themselves. The responsibilities and challenges, as well as the opportunities, are endless.

Many physicians are unsure of what tasks are appropriate to assign to a medical assistant and it is important to remember medical assistants are not licensed to make independent medical assessments or give advice. Although many Medical Assistants may have advanced training in certain clinical areas it is ultimately the responsibility of the supervising physician or other licensed health care provider to assure that their staff and Medical Assistants working in the office are performing duties in compliance with all governing laws.

Therefore the physicians must determine the skill level and capabilities of each employee they supervise and take into account liability risk and quality control when assigning them their responsibilities. Physicians should provide initial direct supervision and periodically assess the quality of their work. In practices with nurse managers, medical assistants can receive additional supervision coordinated to maximize workflow in a practice. Communicating the employees roles to other staff and clearly delineating their responsibilities is important in maximizing the productivity of the health care team. Although legal requirements addressing the Medical Assistant scope of practice vary by state, the Medical Assistant generally works under the license of their supervising physician or the managed care organization that employs them. The formal education of medical assistants often occurs in vocational schools, technical institutes, community colleges, proprietary schools, online educational programs or junior colleges.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 800,000 doctors in practice in the United States, with only 500,000 medical assistants working for them. As such, the medical assistant field is expected to grow substantially within the next ten years, especially as more doctors become overloaded with patients. The job is challenging, but there are many rewards, not in the least the chance to provide patients with the best care available.

Copyright : St. Augustine School of Medical Assistants.

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