Preventable Incidents! Following Standards of Care in the Medical Office

Please Note: The information contained on this page is provided for information purposes only and should not be considered legal advice, nor is it a substitute or interpretation of regulations established by authorities having jurisdiction over practicing doctors, nurses and their medical assistants in your state. Please contact your State Board of Medical Examiners directly for specific advice, official business, or consult with your attorney. We cannot provide this information to you.

Medical Assistants Doing a Little Bit More?

Medical assistants are expected to explain an upcoming procedure to a patient before it starts and be present during the procedure to chaperone or help the doctor and patient. The goal is make the procedure or exam go over as smoothly as possible and focus on reducing and eliminating preventable medical errors. However, doing a little bit more, such as giving a medication sample "as a favor" without the knowledge of the doctor is a serious breach of law.

Unknown numbers of doctors and medical assistants take massive risks, either knowingly or totally unaware, when they are trained on the job without access to current information from a professional membership organization such as the American Association of Medical Assistants, American Medical Technologists, or National Healthcareer Association. Not having received formal training from an accredited vocational training institution where expertly trained faculty instruct future medical assistants on what they can and cannot do leaves them open to the assumptions, for example, countless doctors, nurses and medical assistants still falsely believe that as long as they work under the umbrella of the doctor they are allowed to do anything that is asked, however, this is a misconception.

In your role as a medical assistant, never be tempted to do a little bit more than you should just because your intentions are good. Don't provide information that lies outside your knowledge, or scope of practice, just because you want to be helpful, and never make your own medical assessments, sharing your own opinion about a patient's health, or progress of a patient, or triaging patients that call with medical concerns or issues with the good intension of make it easier for the nursing staff, or doctor.

As little as... Oversights, Miscommunication and Distractions

• failing to obtain informed consent - the lawyer will call it negligence
• forgetting to ask about allergies - the lawyer will call it malpractice
• failing to recognize a need for urgent help - the lawyer will call it neglect
• failing to return an urgent phone call - the lawyer will call it indifference
• putting an urgent call on hold and forgetting about it - the lawyer will call it abandonment
• discussing a patient's condition within earshot of others - the lawyer will call it breach of confidentiality 

These little oversights, simple miscommunications, unintended slip-ups, distractions and kind favors can lead to serious consequences and repercussions for the individual, the doctor and everybody else involved.

  Doctors and their Medical Assistants Take Massive Risks

Another medical assistant was fired in 2011 in Fort Collins, Colorado after inadvertently putting young children in harms way. She only administered half the amount of a pre-measured children's influenza vaccine vial to each child. Assuming it was the adult dosage in the vial, she simply withdrew half the amount into the syringe, administered it and hence, each child received only half the required dosage of the vaccine. In addition, after drawing up the vaccine from the vial the assistant removed the needle from the syringe and replaced it with a sterile needle, but did not use not a new syringe, potentially exposing each child to bloodborne pathogens and serious infections by reusing the syringe.

Safety Guidelines When Administering Medications

Medical assistants must never be tempted to do, or say, more than they should and never attempt procedures that they weren't adequately trained and properly supervised in. They should administer only those medications for which the physician has written and signed the order and must always check with the ordering doctor when in doubt about any medication dosage. When dispensing medications, they must carefully check to make sure that everything on the medication order corresponds exactly with the label on the package or container and medications that are not clearly labeled should never be used, or put back into the medicine closet. Safety and staying within the medical assisting scope of practice is the highest focus and concern, especially when administering medications. Otherwise, you can find yourself entering dangerous territory. View Safe Injection Practices Video.

 "What are the 5 Rs?  

1. Right patient
2. Right time and frequency
3. Right dose
4. Right route
5. Right medication