Medical Assistant Definition and Description

To understand what a medical assistant is one has to understand what a medical assistant does and does NOT do...

By definition, medical assistants are not licensed healthcare professionals and rarely work in nursing homes or on in-patient hospital floors; however, they have become essential to large and small ambulatory medical care facilities, physician's practices and countless out-patient health clinics where they handle medical office routines on a clinical and administrative level and can specialize in specific therapeutic areas.

What a Medical Assistant Is and Isn't!

The medical assistant's definition and role is as diverse, colorful and varied as the scrubs and uniforms they wear. The scrub tops they wear range from solid to colorful patterns and prints, floral patterns and garden prints, dragon flies and ladybugs, puppies and kittens, sun, moon, and stars, smiley faces, you name it! The list is long. Equally, medical assistants wear many hats, figuratively speaking, wherever they work.

Medical Assistant Job Description

The medical assistant job description and examples of medical assistant duties explains exactly what a medical assistant is and does.

The medical assistant's days are busy. Their job description encompasses a multitude of tasks that are just as diverse and varied as any other trained professional's. Their duties range from registering new patients from young to old, verifying health insurance coverage, organizing examination rooms, giving out appointments, collecting and processing copayments, keeping medical records organized, assisting during a procedure, obtaining and sorting laboratory result printouts and following up on patient calls.

Medical assistants aren't licensed professionals,
but they can handle specific duties that are equally important to the medical office...

Role Distribution In The Medical Office

1.) The ultimate person in charge of the medical office is the doctor.

2.) Front office duties mostly consist of administrative duties, such as answering the phones, scheduling appointments, checking in established and registering new patients, and assisting them to fill out their registration and health insurance information forms and proper communication.

3.) Back office duties typically consist of clinical tasks revolving around patient care and preparing them for their medical examinations by the doctor, such as taking vital signs, performing simple diagnostic screening tests, sterilizing, wrapping and setting up equipment and bringing patients to the examination rooms.

4.) All medical assistants, whether in the front or back, will make sure the doctor is running on schedule and is informed about all of the patient’s needs and what is happening at the office and are equally responsible for patient comfort and safety.

5.) The Medical Office Manager

The medical office, or practice manager's office is often somewhere to the side, or back area, away from the public's eye, with secured areas and archives, computers and databases, lockers, and storage rooms.

The medical office manager's role is similar to that of the symphony conductor, coordinating the front and back office activities and needs. Sometimes, this role is filled by an experienced Registered Nurse (RN), or a Health Information Manager with a (HIM) degree, however, sometimes it is the doctor's spouse trained to handle this job. Medical office managers are typically involved in the hiring and firing process, and responsible for overseeing the office facilities, arranging for after-hours cleaning, reporting problems with the building, and ensuring that supplies are re-ordered.

They plan and confirm the doctor's meeting and speaking schedules and when they will be working out of the office, e.g. at a contracted hospital. They secure replacements and coverage when the doctor is out of town attending a seminar, 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 specific needs of the practice.

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