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What Is A Medical Assistant? The Duties Of Medical Assistants In Hospitals And Clinics
Becoming a medical assistant is very easy for it only requires a high school certificate or a GED equivalent and there is no formal lessons or training requirements needed not like other jobs such as nursing. Those who hope for to be certified must simply undergo six months to two years of medical assisting classes or curriculum that is certified by the Department of Education and other supporting organizations. The course for medical assisting includes the fundamental medical vocabulary, anatomy and physiology and supplementary administrative training like recordkeeping, bookkeeping, transcription, and so on and so forth. The program courses are purposely designed to help hopeful medical assistants to be confident and competitive in their selected job. This is because medical assistants' nature of work is to carry out or to keep medical establishments structured and to keep it running smoothly. Also, since medical assistants will constantly interact in almost all people in the hospitals even with the patients, their program courses also include patient relations, ethics and medical laws. Medical assistant is different from a physician assistant or a nurse. Medical assistants carryout accounting and clinical tasks while nurses are more on treatments and patient handling. In general a medical assistant handles administrative duties and or clinical duties. 1. Administrative Tasks - Answering telephone calls - Support patients and families - Appointment scheduling - Financial recording and billing - Clerical - Handling correspondence - Filing and updating patient's medical records - Managing insurance forms - Arranging hospital admissions - Assisting in laboratory services 2. Clinical Duties and Responsibilities - Taking patient's medical history - Recording patient's vital signs - Preparing patients for medical examinations - Assisting doctors during medical examinations - Explaining to patients the procedures that are to be done to them - Collects and prepares the laboratory specimens - Buying medical supplies and equipments - Disposing of contaminated medical supplies - Preparing medical instruments - Making sure that hospital quarters such as waiting rooms and examination rooms are clean and tidy In some hospitals, medical asssistants are permitted to carryout basic medical tasks under the supervision of doctors: - Basic laboratory tests - Prepare medications and administer medications as well - Instructing patients in taking medications and some diets - Drug refills - Draw blood - Changing of dressings - Removing sutures With these large scope of duties and responsibilities, medical assistants should be well-organized and can do multi-tasking at the same time. They must possess pleasing personality and must be good communicators for they must make the patients feel comfortable and easy before and or during examination. Also, medical assistants must be prim and well groomed for they should look respectable when dealing with patients. Duties and responsibilities of medical assistants vary depending in the hospitals they work. In average hospitals or clinics they are to perform both administrative and clinical duties while in large hospitals where there are other medical staff, medical assistants are impelled to performed exclusive tasks under the direction of the department administrators. Regardless where medical assistants work, they are very useful in helping healthcare workers to perform their jobs more effectively and prolifically. As a result, the growing needs of people's medical attention are met through them. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Get medical assistant training. Get your medical assistant diploma and start earning now. |
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