Medical Assistant Job Description (Skills, Duties, Salary, Certification & More)

Medical assistants are the healthcare professionals who instruct patients about special diets and medications. They work under the direction of a physician. Medical Assistants mostly work in clinics, hospitals, or physician’s offices. They play a vital role in our health and medical industry. Physicians hire a medical assistant for smooth functioning in the hospital/ clinic as they cannot handle multiple patients at a time and an assistant specializes in managing and multitasking.

A medical assistant performs multiple duties including some administrative duties as well as some clinical duties. They keep juggling multiple responsibilities. Although the scope of their work is not just limited to the below-listed duties as it varies from location to location, specialization to specialization, and the amount of practice one does, still let’s take a look at common duties performed by a medical assistant. Many people still are unaware about what are the actual duties that a medical assistant performs.

List of Skills Required by a Medical Assistant

It is rightly said that we call them ‘Medical Assistants’ because a ‘Full-time Multitasking Ninja’ is not an actual Job title. So, let’s discuss the skills of a medical assistant.

Organization and Management Skills

The duties that a medical assistant performs require excellent management skills as they need to learn to deal with multiple patients and their queries at a time. So, they got to have the ability to work within a given time schedule. They organize the meetings and appointments as per the physician’s schedule.

Communication Skills

Medical Assistant needs to acquire excellent communication skills as they bridge the gap between the physician and the patients. So, it is essential to have verbal ability skills and phone etiquettes to interact with patients and physicians.

Sense of Understandability and Compassion

Medical Assistants have to deal with patients and the patients require that compassion and understandability from the assistant’s side. That is why the ability to provide compassion and care to the patients is vital.

Being a Medical Assistant, a greatest skill one will ever learn is having a caring heart.

Technical and analytical Skills

Medical Assistants’ duties involve handling records of patients and examine some basic diagnoses. In order to do so, they should have the skills to handle medical instruments. Physicians and doctors rely on the information that the medical assistants provide, so they also need to have accuracy while maintaining those records. Computer literacy is an important technical skill. They should have proficiency in MS Office, E-mails, etc.

Other skills required by a medical assistant can be Supply management skills, Confidentiality, Professionalism, life support, Medical coding, Multitasking, Bedside manner, Skills to create an effective and safe environment for patients, Empathy, Knowledge about the injections, signs measurement, Team management, stress management, etc. It is also important to be aware of the terminologies used in medical science to understand what is directed by the physician.

List of Common Duties Performed by a Medical Assistant

1. Taking medical histories of patients
2. Prepares patients for examination
3. Showing the patient, the exam room
4. Conducts basic tests
5. Takes electrocardiograms
6. Assist the physician
7. Performs tasks as directed by the physicians
8. Draw blood from patients
9. Prepares samples for laboratory testing
10. Answer’s patients’ phones
11. Schedule appointments
12. Filing records and filling forms
13. Records symptoms
14. Greeting and interacting with patients
15. Practicing standard precautions
16. Transmitting information electronically  
17. Coding for insurance purposes
18. Handles prescriptions and refill requests
19. Performs dressing on wounds
20. Removes stitches
21. Interviewing patients
22. Billing and bookkeeping
23. Ordering supplies
24. Updating patient’s charts
25. Communicating with pharmacies

List of Common Responsibilities Performed by Medical Assistant

1. Following the rules and regulations and laws related to confidentiality.
2. Complying with risk management and dealing with patients belonging to a different culture, ethnicity, gender, age, economic status, etc.
3. Documentation of essential records of patients
4. Ensure proper interaction between work staff and patients.

The Lifestyle of a Medical Assistant

A day in a medical assistant’s life could look like a lot of work involved as their role doesn’t get finished when the patients are gone. So, when an individual decides to become a medical assistant, he/she should make sure that his/her income matches with the lifestyle they want to live as the salary of a medical assistant depends upon the years of experience one has in this field and on the number of hours one is ready to devote for this job.

A medical assistant starts his day by doing administrative duties and creating a schedule that matches with the physician’s schedule and as per that they set the appointments with the patients. After when the patients start arriving, they manage them and prepares them to get examined by the doctor. Meanwhile, they also perform some basics checkups like measuring height, weight and checking the blood pressure or the pulse rate.

At the end of the day, they clean the exam room after each patient leaves, they contact pharmacists to restock the medicinal supplies and do the paperwork of the respective patients.

Hence, each medical assistant lives a different lifestyle depending upon he level of experience they have.

Certification and Qualification Required by a Medical Assistant

1. Bachelor’s Degree
2. High school diploma
3. CCMA Certification (Certified Clinical Medical Assistant)
4. RMS (Registered Medical Assistant)
5. NCCT (National Certified Medical Assistant)
6. CMAA (Certified Medical Administrative Assistant)
7. Familiar with Medical Terminology
8. Medical office experience of more than a year
9. Preferred previous work experience in some specific medical field
10. Experience with EMR (Electronic Media Records)

Medical Assistant’s Resume Should Include

Contact Details

• Your name
• E-mail
• Phone no.

Summary

• A brief about your work

Education

Certification

Experience

Skills

Conclusion

We covered a couple of things related to a medical assistant’s job description. We saw how one can become a successful medical assistant and how he can use the job description to his or her advantage in a medical interview. You could use this job description for your job interview to answer the employer’s questions as well. I hope this article has proved to be helpful to you. A medical assistant is indeed an excellent career to be a part of as it is one of the most fasted growing careers. As the years of experiences increases, so does the paycheck.

We are proud of each and every medical assistant out there as they are not just making a living, but making a difference.

Comment below what you like about this article and don’t forget to share it with your friends, co-workers and family.

All the best for your future!

References

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Nve0DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=job+description+medical+assistant&ots=kvMvHdkE3H&sig=4s5ngkTpat3D0WKAcN3tRSgMggQ