Professional Qualities
An office assistant must have general knowledge of the medical field and understand medical terminology. It is essential that the medical assistant accurately and appropriately perform assigned administrative and clinical skills. One of the most important qualities that a medical assistant must have is a genuine desire to help others and care about them. The nature of the patient and health care worker relationship demands that medical assistants be able to communicate effectively and get along with others. Qualities or characteristics required of a professional medical assistant include integrity, empathy, discretion, the ability to safeguard the patient’s right to confidentiality, thoroughness, punctuality, congeniality, proactivity, and competence.
• Integrity—Integrity includes the qualities of honesty and truthfulness. Someone with integrity is dependable, dedicated to high standards, and adheres to a code of values.
• Empathy—The ability to work with the sick and the infirm depends on the ability and willingness to show compassion, understanding, and sympathy. A medical assistant with empathy has the ability to be sensitive to or understand the feelings of another individual. An empathic person is able to stand in the shoes of another and identify with what that person is experiencing.
For example, when a medical assistant has some insight or understanding of the pain or distress a patient is feeling, she acts in a kind and caring way that expresses sensitivity to the patient’s feelings.
• Discretion—Discretion is the ability to make sound judgments. A medical assistant who uses discretion is able to make decisions responsibly. Someone who uses discretion is tactful in communicating with others. It is important to be able to be fair and to be familiar with policies and regulations so they can be properly applied. Discretion is important when interacting with patients and coworkers.
• Confidentiality—The ability to maintain privacy and safeguard patient confidences—particularly information in the medical record regarding family history, past or current diseases or illnesses, test results, and medications—is vital to the patient and health care professional relationship. No information about the patient is to be disclosed without the written permission of the patient. This is a legal and ethical issue with penalties for violating patient confidentiality. Without this trust, there can be no relationship. As the person with most frequent access to patient records and verbal confidences, the medical assistant has a serious professional responsibility to safeguard the patient’s right to confidentiality .
• Thoroughness—The role of the medical assistant is varied and often requires multitasking. Even with so many responsibilities to attend to, attention to detail is critical to the performance of assigned tasks in the medical facility. Medical assistants should show pride in their work by thoroughly completing every task the physician orders. If a medical assistant is not thorough, errors can jeopardize patient health.
Understand Your Credentials
The medical assistant is uniquely qualified to perform the administrative and clinical procedures associated with responsibilities assigned in the particular setting by the physician. In fulfilling these responsibilities, however, you must always be aware that the potential for psychological, financial, and physical injury to the patient exists. It is your ethical responsibility to patients and your employer that you do your utmost to maintain a high level of skill performance in all that you do. The medical assistant always works as an agent of the physician. It is also important that you work only within the scope of practice for medical assisting. It is a crime to perform procedures that only nurses or physicians are licensed to do. Although most duties can be performed in all states, each state may have a different scope of practice for medical assisting. It is your responsibility to become familiar with the law or qualification in your state. Be sure to understand your role as a medical assistant, and do not deviate from it.
Legal Principles
It is important to fully understand what your credentials allow you to do. The medical assistant is uniquely qualified to perform the administrative and clinical procedures associated with responsibilities assigned in the particular setting by the physician. In fulfilling these responsibilities, however, you must always be aware that the potential for psychological, financial, and physical injury to the patient exists. It is your ethical responsibility to patients and your employer that you do your utmost to maintain a high level of skill performance in all that you do. The medical assistant always works as an agent of the physician. It is also important that you work only within the scope of practice for medical assisting. It is a crime to perform procedures that only nurses or physicians are licensed to do. Although most duties can be performed in all states, each state may have a different scope of practice for medical assisting. It is your responsibility to become familiar with the law or qualification in your state. Be sure to understand your role as a medical assistant, and do not deviate from it.
Duties:
Medical assistants are unlicensed personnel who often perform clinical skills and assist in the clinical setting alongside the physician. Because medical assistants are unlicensed, their physician-employer is responsible for the work they perform. They must display competence in a skill or duty before they are given the full responsibility of completing the task unsupervised.
Licensed health care practitioners are also able to delegate duties to a medical assistant. These may include physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and even registered nurses. It is important to note that state laws vary regarding who can delegate duties to a medical assistant, and it is important that you know the laws for your state. These laws, often found within a state’s medical practice act, may be amended and changed frequently.
Keeping abreast of laws and changes that affect the scope of practice for medical assisting is a vital component of being a responsible member of a health care team.
SUMMARY
Soft skills, or people skills, combined with cognitive and psychomotor skills, are vitally important in the medical office. The medical assistant functions within a system, an organized hierarchy of professionals with established policies and procedures. It is important for the medical assistant to communicate well with the patients, physicians, and coworkers. Good communication involves active listening, seeking first to understand then speaking to be understood, and effective writing. Critical thinking, another key professional skill, involves distinguishing fact from opinion and making good value judgments. Teamwork is essential in the medical office where a diversity of clients, coworkers, and needs may create conflicts. Medical assistants must prioritize tasks and manage time well. Stress management for patients and medical office employees is also important. Medical careers can create stress for health care workers, so it is important to know how to reduce stress. Time management is critical for the office to operate well. Urgent tasks are not necessarily important tasks. A to-do list can help you prioritize tasks. Persistence is also important in the medical office. The medical assistant may need to focus on a task several times to be thorough and see it through to completion. Lifelong learning is the responsibility of the medical assistant, because new breakthroughs and treatments are perpetually being developed in medicine.