Medical Assistants

What Does a Medical Assistants Do?

Perform administrative and certain clinical duties under the direction of a physician. Administrative duties may include scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes. Clinical duties may include taking and recording vital signs and medical histories, preparing patients for examination, drawing blood, and administering medications as directed by physician.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

• 1Interview patients to obtain medical information and measure their vital signs, weight, and height.
• 2Clean and sterilize instruments and dispose of contaminated supplies.
• 3Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records.
• 4Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients.
• 5Prepare treatment rooms for patient examinations, keeping the rooms neat and clean.
• 6Collect blood, tissue, or other laboratory specimens, log the specimens, and prepare them for testing.
• 7Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician.
• 8Help physicians examine and treat patients, handing them instruments or materials or performing such tasks as giving injections or removing sutures.

Required Skills

• Active Listening
• Speaking
• Reading Comprehension
• Critical Thinking
• Monitoring
• Appointment scheduling software
• Billing software
• Bookkeeping software
• Business software applications
• Data entry software
• Database software
• Diagnostic and procedural coding software
• eClinicalWorks EHR software
• Electronic medical record EMR software
• Email software

Medical Assistants Salary