Look Inside a Day in the Life of a Medical Assistant
Have you thought about training for a career as a medical assistant? If you’re interested in pursuing a career as a medical assistant, you may want to learn more about what you can expect from this career path. In this blog, we discuss what a medical assistant does and what a day in the life of a medical assistant might be like. If this rewarding career path still interests you, you can train for this rewarding career path in as few as 36 weeks with Las Vegas College!
What Does a Medical Assistant Do?
Medical assistants play a vital role in the healthcare field, working alongside doctors to provide patients with the highest level of care. Medical assistants work in the offices of physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities, completing both administrative and clinical tasks. Medical Assistants, or MAs, also help to provide a means of communication between patients, doctors and other health care providers.
What is a Medical Assistant Career Like?
If you are interested in this career path, it’s important to understand what a medical assisting career is really like. Here is what a busy day in the life of a medical assistant might look like:
When the medical assistant arrives at the office, they begin their day by logging into the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system, and checking phone messages and emails. Next, the medical assistant organizes the charts and fills out any paperwork needed for the day, such as surgical permission forms, health check forms and insurance paperwork. The medical assistant then reviews the patient schedule for the day, and prepares the exam rooms for the first appointments.
Once patients begin to arrive for scheduled appointments, the medical assistant must work efficiently to keep things flowing smoothly. An administrative medical assistant checks patients in for their appointment, verifies patient information and health insurance and helps the patient fill out any appropriate forms. A clinical medical assistant then greets the patient and takes him or her to an exam room. Then the medical assistant takes the patient’s vital signs, performs a patient interview, and prepares the patient for any scheduled procedures. The medical assistant may also be responsible for administering medications and injections, recording information in medical recordkeeping systems, preparing and handling medical instruments and supplies, and collecting and preparing specimens of bodily fluids and tissues for laboratory testing.
Medical assistants are constantly busy, as most medical offices book appointments just 15 minutes apart. If there is time in between patients, medical assistants might answer phone calls or update patient charts. The medical assistant uses the electronic health portal to correspond via email, share and explain test results, schedule and follow up on appointments, send necessary forms, and more. Medical assistants are also responsible for obtaining consent forms before each procedure. Sometimes medical assistants need to call other doctors’ offices to get reports on patients.
After every patient visit, the medical assistant cleans the exam room by wiping everything down, putting everything away, and bringing specimens down to the lab. If there’s an urgent lab sample, the medical assistant must make sure it gets down to the lab in a timely fashion, and check to make sure the results come in quickly. Results such as those usually come directly through to the office’s printer or EMR system, and it’s the medical assistant’s responsibility to make sure those results go straight to the patient’s medical provider, so the provider can relay those results to the patient.
Medical assistants also handle prescription refills through the pharmacy. The medical assistant must fax them out and verify that the pharmacy received them. The medical assistant must also ensure the practice is following the rules about certain types of medications – narcotic prescriptions, for example, cannot be faxed but instead must be picked up in hardcopy – so the medical assistant makes sure the office is in compliance with rules like those. Some patients also have to get drug testing if they’re on narcotics, to make sure they’re taking the prescribed medication and dose, so the medical assistant handles that too.
At the end of each day, the medical assistant helps to clean all procedure rooms and sterilize all the tools that were used that day. The medical assistant stocks all the rooms with the necessary gowns, cleaning products, specimen jars, OBGYN equipment, and all the other items necessary for the next day. In a career as fast-paced as this one, good organization skills, patience, stamina and a love for the job are all important qualities.
Is a Medical Assistant Career Right for Me?
If the life of a medical assistant sounds interesting to you, consider training for this stimulating and rewarding career with Las Vegas College! Las Vegas College, in Las Vegas, Nevada, offers a Medical Assistant program that can prepare you to enter this career path in as few as 36 weeks! Students at LVC benefit from a hybrid-online learning model that combines hands-on instruction with online theory coursework - empowering you to gain the essential skills you need for your new career in a flexible way that works for your busy schedule. When you complete your program, you will be prepared to test for the NCCT Medical Assistant Certification, a nationally-recognized professional certification that can help you stand out in the job market!
Train for Your Medical Assistant Career, with LVC in Las Vegas, NV.!
Take the first step towards your medical assisting career, with Las Vegas College! With LVC, you can learn the necessary administrative and clinical skills for employment as a medical assistant in as few as 36 weeks! Las Vegas College is an excellent choice for your healthcare career training. Call us at (702) 567-1920 or contact us here to get started today.