Clinical Medical Assistant in Back Office

Clinical medical assistants work on the clinical floors in the back office, which is the area where the patient goes to be examined, evaluated and treated. They call the patient in from the waiting area and then escort them to the examination room to wait for the doctor.

 Furthermore, the clinical medical assistant assures that halls, closets, treatment areas and examination rooms are clean, well organized and well stocked. They call the patients in from the waiting room and seat them in the examination room where they ask for the reason of their visit, take their vital signs, write down current medications, prepare the charts for the doctor and make sure they are comfortable and ready for their exam.

 If the patient needs to change into an examination gown, or needs to be draped and positioned on the examination chair or table they will assist and assure their privacy and safety. Before leaving the exam room the medical assistant will sift through the patient's medical chart one more time to assure it is complete, including recent lab results and radiological reports if this is a follow up visit. Once everything is all set they place the patient's medical chart into the holder outside the door which is the "universal sign" that the patient is ready for the doctor.

Exam Room Chaperone

Male physicians who perform gynecological, anal/rectal and breast exams on a female patient, and vice versa, female physicians performing genital and anal/rectal exams on men prefer to have their medical assistant with them in the exam room to be present during the examination. The medical assistant serves as a chaperone to avert any misunderstandings or claims of abuse. It often also helps to make a patient more comfortable during the exam.

A medical assistant chaperone can also be also utilized during a physical examination of a pediatric patient, however, this should primarily be a shared decision between the patient and pediatrician. Some states mandate the use of a chaperone when a child is examined. In the revised AAP policy statement “Use of Chaperones During the Physical Examination of the Pediatric Patient” in the May 2011 issue of Pediatrics (published online April 25), issues of patient comfort, privacy and confidentiality are discussed.

Other Examination Room Responsibilities:

• Cleaning exam rooms and setting up for exams
• Admitting and seating patients
• Recording patient vital signs
• Assisting during exams
• Assisting with minor office surgery
• Sterilizing surgical instruments
• Administering medications and injections

Instruments and Supplies

Clinical medical assistants bring in needed instruments and equipment and if needed, drape the patient for the examination or treatment procedure. If special diagnostic or minor surgical procedures are ordered they assist during those procedures and afterward make sure that all surgical instruments are properly cleaned, wrapped and sterilized.

Specimen Collection

If the physician orders a blood sample or other specimens the clinical medical assistant will obtain and label these specimens, properly package then to send them to the appropriate reference laboratory, or run a simple on-the-spot diagnostic screening test in a designated lab area in the back area of the medical office while the patient waits.

Point of Care Screening Tests

In-house quick diagnostic tests on specimens are done using simple automated equipment or "quick tests". These so-called point of care screening tests may include blood typing, urinalysis, vaginal smears viewed under a microscope, anemia hemoglobin testing, rapid mono and strep tests, influenza testing from a nasal swab, spirometry, audiometry, blood pressure, cardiac, pulmonary and visual screening and various other simple tests. See examples of point-of-care tests!

These preliminary test results are immediately reported back to the ordering physician so the appropriate treatment can be determined. For example, if a rapid strep test comes back positive, the patient can be put on antibiotics without delay. It is, however, very important that a portion, or additional samples of the collected specimen, is forwarded to a clinical or diagnostic reference laboratory for cultures or more sophisticated testing so that these initial results can be confirmed as soon as possible.

Additional Responsibilities

Between seating patients and assisting the physician a clinical medical assistant is responsible for the office's on-hand supply of medications and samples. The medical assistant must be sure that medication closets are properly stocked and maintained, no medications have expired and low supplies are restocked. It also is the clinical medical assistant's responsibility to maintain a clean, tidy and safe work environment and that all automated office and diagnostic equipment is clean, calibrated and well maintained.