What a Medical Assistant Is Allowed To Do…

… and medical offices can do to protect themselves. Medical assistants in the USA do not have to be formally trained through an academic or post-secondary adult education institution, nor necessarily be certified to function in an assisting role in a medical office. Under the doctor’s discretion and direct supervision, meaning the doctor is on the premises, anyone can be trained to perform certain administrative and clinical tasks in the front and back office as long as the employer allows it, however, there are occupational limitations and certain skills a medical assistant cannot legally do. A good medical practice and health care facility has researched legal parameters and limitations and established policies outlining each staff member’s responsibilities to protect themselves. Each medical assistant under their employees should receive a written job description and adhere to it.

What A Medical Assistant Can Do:

Generally speaking, when performed under the supervising physician, ophthalmologist, podiatrist, surgeon, or other licensed health care practitioner a medical assistant is allowed to do the following tasks:

1. Prepare and file medical records and patient charts
2. Maintain medical records using standard filing systems
3. Perform inventory control and ordering supplies
4. Maintain and adjust medical office equipment
5. Manage a petty cash drawer
6. Post service charges and payments
7. Gather community resources and statistics
8. Prepare and maintain appointment books
9. Sterilize, wrap and label instruments
10. Set up the examination room for the next patient
11. Record body measurements and vital signs
12. Prepare patients for their physical examinations
13. Assist with therapeutic procedures
14. Assist during simple surgical procedures
15. Prepare and administer medications as ordered
16. Draw up liquid medications and administer (most of) them as ordered
17. Collect and preserve bodily fluids, blood, and other specimens
18. Perform simple STAT screening tests on collected specimens
19. Answer phones and relay patient’s requests and questions
20. Help health care providers improve their patient safety practices
21. Explain preventive measures that can help maintain health
22. Type business correspondence
23. Transcribe dictated documents
24. Reiterate doctor’s instructions and patient health teachings
25. Write the “S” and the “O” part of the SOAP note
26. Read laboratory or other results over the phone, but not interpret them
27. Respond to medical office emergencies, administer CPR and basic first aid
28. Apply a topical numbing agent to the skin, such as an EMLA® patch
29. Fill out a laboratory requisition slip – but MUST obtain physician’s signature
30. Assemble and set up intravenous infusion therapy (IV) equipment
31. Place and initiate an IV line except* in those states where it is specifically prohibited

Occupational Limitations

The medical assistant’s job comes with certain limits. It is good policy to also instruct each employee verbally about specific duties, while also addressing what they are allowed and NOT allowed to do when performing work related duties. A medical assistant’s responsibilities and limitations are based on the quality and type of education, training and experience of each employee, as well as taking into consideration established local, state and federal laws and regulations, which includes not (!!!) making any medical assessments, independently triaging patients, not dispensing medications, or medication samples without explicit orders, adding, or altering a medical treatment plan or assessment in the medical record, or independently giving any type of medical advice. The responsible medical office manager will assure and demand that these limitations are respected and strictly adhered to. Medical assistants can only practice skills that lie within their scope of practice and training.

The lack of licensure and uniformly spelled out regulations puts the medical assistant in a precarious position, dependent on chance and shrouded in uncertainty. Their role is strictly assistive toward the physician under whom they work, or another licensed practitioner who hired them. While it is true that most doctors are replacing their LPNs and RNs with highly responsible and reliable medical assistants, the medical assistant discipline as such is not recognized as what is understood as a profession, or professional career. As of this date, medical assistants falls into the class of workers in the health care occupations. That’s not how it is in Europe, or some other countries where their training is regulated and mandated by the state with a clearly defined scope of practice.