Areas of Responsibility

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	Areas of Responsibility

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Medical Assistant's Responsibilities

Anywhere there are people and a need for medical attention and health services there are medical doctors with their medical assistants as their closest staff. These medical assistants help them in all areas of patient care and keep the daily office routine going at a steady pace.

Statistics show that over 70 per cent of all working medical assistants are employed in physician's private offices and group practices. Another large group of medical assistants work for ophthalmologists, podiatrists and chiropractors and other healthcare providers. Their daily routine consists of frequent interaction with doctors, patients, medical billing staff, insurance companies, pharmacies and other healthcare professionals and various tasks in the front and back office areas.

Medical Assistant "Can I Do That?" Check List

Medical assistants may convey clinical information on behalf of the physician and follow clinical protocols when speaking with patients, but they cannot exercise independent medical judgments. The following are only examples and general guidelines which are published to assist medical assistants and their supervisors to locate answers to questions that arise from time to time about the medical assistant's areas of responsibility.

Medical Assistants Can Do This...

Under the direct supervision of a doctor, or other licensed healthcare practitioner, medical assistants can do clinical and administrative tasks to keep the workflow going.

Medical assistants can determine the acuity of a visit and the visit-length for appointment scheduling purposes using an office protocol provided by the supervising physician

Can measure and record vital signs (cardinal signs), i.e. height, weight, temperature, pulse, respiration rate, and blood pressure

Can record patient demographics, and basic information about the presenting and previous conditions

Can use medical terminology and accepted charting abbreviations

Can escort patients to the exam room and prepare them for an exam

Can use scientific methods to solve problems and choose a mathematical method or formula to solve problems

Can convey clinical information on behalf of the physician

Can arrange examining-room instruments and equipment

Can change wound dressings and obtain wound cultures

Can remove orthopedic splints

Can remove sutures or staples from superficial incisions or lacerations

Can operate diagnostic equipment to record ECG's, simple spirometry, or plethysmography tests, except full body plethysmography; but NOT interpret them!

Can provide patient information and instructions (patient education)

Can provide a single dose of oral medication as orderd by the physician to a patient for immediate self-administration under observation

Can administer medications topically, sublingually, vaginally, rectally and by injection

Can assist patients in ambulation, positioning and with transfers

Can perform CPR and render First Aid in an emergency

Can prepare patients for examination, including draping, shaving and disinfecting treatment sites

Can perform aseptic procedures s.a. wound care

Can prepare a patient for gait analysis testing, or muscle strength assessment

Can collect blood specimens via capillary- and venipuncture technique

Can obtain specimens by non-invasive techniques, such as vaginal and throat cultures and nasal smears limited to the opening of the nasal cavity

Can preserve specimens for testing, including urine, sputum, semen, vomitus and stool

Can perform simple laboratory and screening tests customarily performed STAT in a medical office, such as urinalysis

Can perform ear lavage to remove impacted cerumen

Can perform hearing tests

Can administer different types of cryotherapy to reduce pain or swelling

Can do filing and bookkeeping

Can process insurance claims

Can transcribe medical dictation for medical records

Can call in prescription orders or refills to the pharmacy, but ONLY as ordered and approved by a physician (MD), nurse practitioner, physician assistant (PA).

Medical Assistants in Ophthalmology

Medical assistants with a doctor, healthcare practitioner, or optometrist present in the treatment facility:

Can perform simple non-invasive testing of visual acuity using vision charts

Can perform automated visual field testing

Can show patients how to insert, remove and care for contact lenses

Can perform ophthalmic photography and digital imaging, tonometry, lensometry

Can administer cycloplegiacs, mydriatics and topical anesthetics that are not controlled substances, for ophthalmic purposes

Can perform pachymetry, keratometry, A scans, B scans and electrodiagnostic testing

Can irrigate eyes to flush out irritants or foreign objects

Can fit prescription lenses, or use any optical device in connection with ocular exercises, visual training, vision training, or orthoptics

Can apply eye dressings

Can maintain optical and surgical instruments

Can assist the ophthalmologist in surgery

Medical assistants are NOT allowed to chart pupillary responses! Nor are they allowed to read, interpret or diagnose symptoms or test results.

REMEMBER

Medical Assistants Cannot Do This...

Medical Assistants cannot independently perform telephone triage (medical assistants are not legally authorized to interpret data or diagnose symptoms!)

Other tasks that medical assistants are NOT allowed to do are...

Cannot independently diagnose or treat patients

Cannot independently prescribe medications

Cannot independently give out medication samples

Cannot independently refill prescription requests

Cannot independently do triage

Cannot perform arterial punctures

Cannot inject medications into a vein (most states) unless permitted by state law

Cannot start, flush, or discontinue IV's (most states) unless permitted by state law

Cannot insert urinary catheters

Cannot provide medical treatment, analyze, or interpret test results

Cannot advise patients about their condition, or treatment regimen

Cannot make assessments or perform any kind of medical care decision making

Cannot administer any anesthetic agent (except topical numbing agents such as EMLA cream)

Cannot perform tests that involve the penetration of human tissues except for skin tests and drawing blood as provided by law

Cannot interpret the results of blood or skin tests

Cannot operate LASER equipment

Cannot administer chemotherapy or make an assessment of the patient receiving chemo

Cannot practice physical therapy

Cannot place splints or casts to injured digits or limbs

May need special permit and training to do x-rays, bone densitometry (e.g. Florida)

Medical assistants will never expose themselves, the patients, or their employer to unwanted trouble, reprimand and a possible malpractice lawsuit! Professionalism and knowing what medical assistants can and cannot do is very important.

Read:

What MAs Can and Cannot Do!

Work Conditions and Challenges

Mistakes and Accidents

Malpractice and Liability

MA's Moving on—Moving up!

U.S. Department of Labor