Medical Assistant

Overview

The Medical Assistant is administratively responsible to the Nurse Manager and works under the daily direction and clinical orders of the provider staff. Medical Assistants provide a wide range of clinical and administrative support to healthcare providers in a community-based setting. They play a crucial role in ensuring efficient and patient-centered care, from patient intake and vital signs to assisting with procedures and maintaining medical records.

This position has no direct supervisory responsibilities.

• Clinical Functions
  • Review charts prior to scheduled appointments to assure that all requested lab work and diagnostic procedures have been completed and that reports have been returned and accessible to the provider.
  • Obtains and records patient vital signs, height, weight and reason for visit. Performs vision screening and test for color blindness, includes patient education materials as necessary.
  • Directs patients to exam rooms; assists in preparing patients for examination.
  • Assists providers with patient examinations and procedures.
  • Interacts with patients regarding clinical complaints for effective and immediate response and resolution. Refers any patient complaint to Nurse Manager/Practice Manager for resolution.
  • Carries out appointments for patients requiring blood pressure checks, throat cultures as prescribed by the provider.
  • Recognizes emergency situations, seeks assistance and intervenes appropriately.
  • Documents care actions and patient responses in the electronic medical record.
  • Organizes and prioritizes care with minimal assistance.
  • Maintains patient education literature for distribution.
  • Specimen collection; performs venipuncture following successful training; performs capillary stick, collects urine specimens, performs testing for occult blood in stool. Handles all specimens using Standard Precautions, infection control and hazardous waste removal practices; may perform PT/INR finger stick.
  • Completes lab forms through Computerized Physician Order Entry; processes laboratory samples and ships to reference labs.
  • Diagnostic testing; performs EKGs, pulmonary function tests.
• Administrative Functions
  • Participates in quality assurance activities and all training seminars.
  • Orders all medical supplies, verifies shipments, resolves backorders and initiates returns, as appropriate.
  • Ensures adequate supply of clean linens.
  • Performs quality checks on all office clinical machines. Reports equipment malfunction to the Practice Manager.
  • Assists nursing in quality control of medications by checking expired medications.
• Fundamental Procedures
  • Sets up for patient exam, instrument trays for procedures, including sterile procedures.
  • Cleans, wraps and sterilizes instruments. Takes wrapped instruments to sterile processing as appropriate within the practice. Cleans and monitors the sterilization equipment.
  • Keeps nursing area, lab area, medical storage area, patient exam rooms stocked, clean and orderly.
  • Performs similar or related duties as requested.

The above statements are intended to be a representative summary of the major duties and responsibilities performed by incumbents of this job. The incumbents may be requested to perform job-related tasks other than those stated in this description.