Nature of the Work

Medical assistants perform administrative and clinical tasks in medical practice settings under the direction of a physician. Depending upon the medical practice, a medical Assistant's assigned job may vary.

The administrative duties of a Medical Assistant may include oversight of patients' medical records, insurance submissions, referral forms for a hospital admission, lab work, or diagnostic imaging. Other administrative tasks May include answering telephones, greeting patients, correspondences, scheduling appointments, maintaining electronic medical records, bookkeeping and billing. Because Medical Assistants encounter patients' personal information, they must be able to keep the information confidential and discuss it only with other personnel involved in treating the patient.

The clinical duties of a Medical Assistant may include obtaining a patient's medial history, obtaining vital signs and anthropometric measurements, preparing patients for exams, performing electrocardiogram tracings, preparing a sterile field for the physician, sanitizing and sterilizing instruments, administering ordered injections and medications under the direction of a physician, obtaining samples for laboratory evaluation, and reinforcing instructions from the patient's plan of care.