Medical Assistant Prep / Unit 1 MAS 017 review, 2 to 3 minutes
One Morning in a Family Practice
The idea
Here is a morning in a family practice, constructed for this course, to show how the two sides of the work fit together around one patient.
In practice
At the front desk, a medical assistant answers a call from a man with a sore throat and fever. She asks a few questions, finds a same-day opening, and books him for late morning. When he arrives, she confirms his identity with two identifiers, his name and date of birth, checks his insurance information, and lets the clinical team know he is in the waiting room. A second medical assistant brings him back to an exam room. She asks why he came in and records his answer in his own words. She measures his temperature, pulse, respirations and blood pressure, and enters each reading into the record. His temperature is high, and she tells the provider before the provider walks in. The provider examines him and asks for a rapid strep test. The medical assistant repeats the request back, "Rapid strep test, this patient, room three," collects the throat swab as she was trained, runs the test following the practice's procedure, and records the result. The provider explains the result to the patient and decides on treatment. At checkout, the first medical assistant schedules a follow-up if the provider requested one and makes sure the visit is coded correctly for billing.
Where people slip
Notice what the medical assistants did not do. Neither one told the patient what his fever meant, neither one decided whether to test, and neither one chose a treatment. They gathered, measured, reported and carried out orders, and the provider made every decision that needed clinical judgment.
Your place on the trail
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