What's A Medical Assistant To Do?

Duties of Medical Assistants

Medical assistants typically do the following:

Record patient history and personal information. Measure vital signs, such as blood pressure. Help physicians with patient examinations. Give patients injections or medications as directed by physicians and as permitted by state law. Schedule patient appointments. Prepare blood samples for laboratory tests. Enter patient information into medical records

Medical assistants take and record patients' personal information. They must be able to keep that information confidential and discuss it only with other medical personnel who are involved in treating the patient.

Electronic health records (EHRs) are changing some medical assistants' jobs. More and more physicians are adopting EHRs, moving all their patient information from paper to electronic records. Assistants need to learn the EHR software that their office uses.