Medical Assistant Work Areas

Medical assistants handle responsibilities in all areas of the medical office, including the waiting and reception area, the office's administrative areas and archives, as well as the back office clinical and laboratory areas, storage and archives. They maintain and assist doctors and patients in the examination and treatment rooms and perform on-site laboratory rapid screening tests in compliance with CLIA standards and regulations.

Medical Assistants Working as a Team 

 It is no surprise that so many men and women are attracted to the medical assisting career. They work in a clean environment, build strong, long lasting relationships with the doctor and patients. If a mother has a sick child the administrative medical assistant will fit them into the doctor's schedule to be seen that day, if blood, or any other specimens need to be collected, such as a throat or wound swab for a bacterial culture, the clinical medical assistant will take care of that.

A well trained medical assistant can easily float from the front to the back office, and vice versa, from the back to the front. Although typically, medical office space is structurally divided into different areas and sections, especially in larger multi-physician group practices, working together as a team is VERY, very important; as a matter of fact, the best medical office teams are those who can completely eliminate the "front versus back office" mindset. A medical office should be regarded as one whole unit with common goals and work together seamlessly, rather than separate themselves from the front and the back, or laboratory areas. Some necessary traits and skills for the medical assistant to succeed at work are:

• telephone etiquette and communication
• contact with others — (physical contact, face-to-face, by telephone)
• professionalism — dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations
• integrity — being honest and ethical
• cooperation — being pleasant with others and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude
• team player — work with group or team 
• decision making (image and reputation of the organization)
• tolerance, courtesy and respect (close physical proximity to other people)
• attention to detail — being exact and accurate
• cleanliness and universal precautions (prevent exposure to disease or infections)
• attuned to wearing safety equipment (safety shoes, glasses, gloves, lab coat, gown, etc.)

Front Office: Reception, Admin and Clerical

 Administrative medical assistants work in the front office and reception area where they are usually the very first office staff member the patient sees when they arrive for their appointment. Front office staff are often referred to as the medical secretary, receptionist, or simply the person at the desk. Most are highly skilled administrative medical assistants with excellent interpersonal skills. They greet the patients, schedule their appointments, make referrals, verify insurance coverage and make appointments for X-rays, laboratory tests, or other medical procedures, copy patient insurance cards, pull and sort medical records and charts and log copayments while the patient is seated in the waiting area until the clinical medical assistant calls them in to be seen.

Back Office: Clinical and Therapeutic Areas

  Clinical medical assistants, on the other hand, are mostly found in the back office along with various other clinical staff members and clinicians and the doctor. This is where a wide array of medical and ambulatory healthcare services are performed, such as medical and health care consultations, health assessments, health screening, physical and diagnostic exams, immunizations, treatments, prescription writing and patient monitoring. From time to time, however, will you see the clinical medical assistant interact with patients up front in the waiting and reception area, including those brief moments when they pick up and review the next patient's medical chart and call the patient in.

Medical Office Manager
Photo: Susan Tang electronically documents patient records into the MC4 Dell laptop.

Furthermore, in the back, usually away from the public's eye, is the practice manager's office with secured areas and archives, computers and databases, lockers, money saves and storage rooms. Coordinating the front and back office is just as important as working the front and back floors.

The medical office manager is similar to the conductor of a symphony. Sometimes it is a hired Registered Nurse (RN) to fit that role, or a Health Information Manager with a (HIM) degree, or sometimes it is the doctor's spouse and partner trained directly on the job. Medical office managers are typically responsible for overseeing the office facilities, arranging for after-hours cleaning workers, reporting any problems with the building and ensuring that supplies are replenished and re-ordered.

They plan and confirm the doctor's schedules so that they know when they will be working in the office, or at the contracted hospital. They secure replacements and coverage when the doctor is out of town, e.g. attending a seminar and the medical office's financial status with the doctor, make bank deposits and pay utility and other bills, and often, unless it is outsourced to a CPA, write pay checks and log staff member's time cards. Also, they may handle the medical billing aspects of the office unless it is forwarded to a medical coding and billing firm. It all depends on the size and needs of the particular office.