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How Medical Assistants Can Work Well with Their Physicians

How Medical Assistants Can Work Well with Their Physicians

Medical assistant performing tests

A medical assistant works in a doctor’s office or hospital. They help with administrative tasks as well as basic medical care. Their job duties and responsibilities can range from scheduling appointments to administering shots. Learn more about how medical assistants can better collaborate with physicians below, and learn more about certified medical assistant training below as well.

 

Tips for MAs to Collaborate with Physicians

If you are just starting out your work as a medical assistant, you might not know exactly how to handle collaboration and working for a physician. Your first medical assistant job can be great, but it can be a little nerve-wracking figuring out exactly where you fit in the physician’s offices. Check out the tips below to help you better collaborate with your physician as a medical assistant.

  • Actively Listen to the Physician and Nurse – The first step in being a good employee and collaborator is to listen actively. Interprofessional collaboration is crucial in healthcare. Make sure you are not distracted when you are receiving instructions. Make sure you ask questions if you have them, but you find the answers yourself if you can. Listening to the doctor and the nurse will go a long way to helping you be a better worker.
  • Know Your Job Duties and Responsibilities – It is also essential that you know your job duties as a medical assistant. Medical assistants wear a variety of hats from performing administrative tasks to taking medical histories to performing basic medical labs. The exact location or physician’s office you work in will better determine what your exact duties and responsibilities are. Your employer should go over your specific job duties with you, but make sure you understand all your responsibilities when they explain them and don’t hesitate to ask questions when you need to.
  • Medical assistant checking on patient

    Step in and Help Where You See a Need – As a medical assistant, if you see that something needs to be done, and it is within your capabilities, jump in and do it. There will always be different things coming up at a doctor’s office, so if there is an unexpected task that you can do, doing it right away can help a lot.

  • Set Your Doctor Up for Success – It is also important to think of your job as a medical assistant as setting up your doctor for success. You play an important role in making the office run smoothly, but the doctor is the one who has to diagnose and treat the patients. That means you need to help set them up for success wherever you can. That could be gathering information on symptoms from patients and making the patient feel comfortable. It could also mean performing administrative tasks so that the office runs more efficiently. Once you start working longer with your physician, you may be able to anticipate their specific needs and help them even more.
  • Have a Good Attitude – A good attitude is always welcome in a doctor’s office. There are stressful and hectic times, and having a good attitude can help not only the physician but often the patient as well.
  • Be Self-Sufficient – It is also important for a medical assistant to be as self-sufficient as possible. It is okay to ask questions if you do not understand, but you cannot always be asking for help because that slows the office down. When you can find the answer for yourself, do so. This will help everything run better.
  • Group of medical professionals

    Ask for Feedback on Your Work – A physician is a very busy person, so they will not be providing you with feedback on your work every day. However, if you have been working at a physician’s office for several months, and you have not received any feedback on how you are doing, you can feel free to ask. This is sometimes the best way to understand if you are meeting the needs of the physician or not.

Your first job as a medical assistant can be stressful because you are just figuring out what it is really like to collaborate with physicians and other healthcare professionals. However, if you follow these tips, it could help you a lot.

 

Completing Your Medical Assistant Program in Miami

FVI School of Nursing and Technology or FVI has a medical assistant program in Miami that you can take to prepare yourself for a job as an MA. This course trains you on basic medical care as well as how medical offices run. Check out the FVI website for more information on what you can expect from this medical assistant training program.

For more information about graduation rates, the median debt of students who completed the program, and other important information, please visit our website:
https://fvi.edu/consumer-information/.

 

Sources and References:

  1. https://www.fvi.edu/Blog/what-does-a-medical-assistant-training-program-entail/
  2. https://www.fvi.edu/Blog/blogthree-reasons-to-become-a-medical-assistant-in-florida/
  3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4530359/
  4. https://www.fvi.edu/Blog/medical-assistant-responsibilities/
  5. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/medical-assistants.htm#tab-2
  6. https://www.fvi.edu/medical-assistant-program/
  7. https://www.fvi.edu/Blog/the-top-medical-assistant-requirements