Work Conditions and Challenges

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	Work Conditions and Challenges

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Work Conditions And Challenges in a Medical Office:

Medical Assistants usually work in well lit, air-conditioned primary care, specialty medical offices, or various types of ambulatory clinics. Medical assistants have to lift, stand, reach, stoop and walk. Competence in the field requires that adherance to ethical and legal standards of professional practice, recognizing and responding to emergencies, and demonstrating professional characteristics and conduct to master the challenges that come with this job.

Expectations:

Medical assistants are expected to observe the values of the employer, adhere to all office standards, obey office rules, code of ethics. and embrace the philosophy and mission of the office team to provide optimal patient care. The people seen in a medical office often are sick or have health concerns. This demands good communication and a caring and understanding attitude at all times.

Supervisor: Physician/Doctor M.D. RN, Nurse Practitioner Physician's Assistant (PA) Office Manager Nursing Supervisor Clinic/Office Manager Possible Work Hours: Standard full-time: Monday through Friday 8:00 AM-5:00 PM (with 1 hour for lunch) Part-time: 20 hrs per week Day shift or night shift Often no holidays and weekends Sometimes holidays and weekends		Administrative Responsibilities: Patient reception Appointment scheduling Handling office mail Responding to telephone calls Pharmacy call Obtaining and verifying referrals Transactions, billing and collections Computer data entry Medical records management Medical coding Insurance billing Medical transcription Filing
Physical Abilities: 1. Frequent exposure to communicable diseases, toxic substances, blood and body fluids, medicinal and other conditions common to a clinic environment 2. Requires full range of body motion for guiding and positioning patients 3. Manual and finger dexterity and eye-hand coordination 4. Stamina for standing and walking 5. Occasionally carrying heavier items, or equipment 6. Normal visual acuity and hearing		Clinical Responsibilities: a. Admitting and seating patients b. Recording patient vital signs c. Setting up exam rooms d. Assisting during exams e. Sterilizing surgical instruments f. Assisting with minor office surgery g. Spirometry, audiometry, blood pressure, cardiac, pulmonary and visual screening h. Simple lab tests s.a. urinalysis, hematology i. Preparing specimens for microbiology j. Administering medications and injections

Medical Office Job Challenges

Medical assistants often work under pressure. They answer phones while always being ready for the doctor, or when a patient needs assistance. They also must be prepared to handle emergency situations that might arise at any given moment; therefore prior volunteer experience in the healthcare field, such as nurse's assistant or home health aide, can prove to be very helpful.

Number of Employed in U.S. In 2005:

Offices of physicians: 219,790

General medical and surgical hospitals: 51,430

Offices of other healthcare practitioners: 40,700

Outpatient medical care centers: 17,090

Other ambulatory healthcare services: 5,710

Working as a Team:

In any given medical specialty, everybody needs to work together as a team. There usually is a front office and the back office area which bring along a variety of different responsibilities. The medical assistant's work typically involves anything from answering phones and filing charts to cleaning a wound, setting up and cleaning an examination room, administering medications, to cleaning and wrapping instruments.

This is what Weisy1 has told us:

Sep 17th, 2007 - 10:41 PM

I work with mostly female RN's, LPN's, MA's, and CNA's in a hospital clinic based internal medicine. By and large our duties are equally distributed. I think that one of the advantages of working at a government facility is that a lot of emphasis is placed on gender equality. Of course, there are physical elements that may require male intervention - but by and large everybody pulls their load in our clinic.

Medical Assistants in a Group Practice:

Additional responsibilities and considerations in a group practice make the challenges medical assistants face in the clinical and administrative areas more complex because they might be assigned to work alongside more than one doctor and nurses and see more patients in any given day than in a smaller practice. An excellent understanding of the office's daily routine, the ability to work collaboratively with a number of different healthcare professionals to back the office's team is essential!

Medical Assistants Working in Hemodialysis:

Medical assistants can work in hemodialysis centers work under the supervision of physicians and various other licensed healthcare practitioners such as nurses. They clean and disinfect dialysis and related equipment in accordance with strict policy and procedures. They prepare and administer medications as ordered and record patient status during dialysis treatments.