5 Phenomenal Ways Technology is Changing Medical Assisting
Medical assistants are an important part of the health care industry, working beside physicians in clinics, hospitals, and medical offices to assist with outpatient and ambulatory care.
Although the job varies depending on the size and the specialty of practice, trained medical assistants are cross-trained to perform both clinical tasks and administrative work. According to the American Association of Medical Assistants, these professionals may do everything from taking down medical histories and preparing patients for examination, to explaining treatment plans. In addition to assisting physicians during exams, they often collect lab specimens, perform basic lab tests, take electrocardiograms, and draw blood from patients. Their administrative duties can include everything from arranging hospital admissions, to answering phones, filing medical records, coding, and bookkeeping.
With the number of technological advancements in the industry, the expansion of the health care field, and an increase in elderly patients who need medical treatment, new advances in technology are certain to change the way these professionals work. Here are just a few examples.
1. Using Electronic Medical Records
The emergence of Electronic Medical Records has changed the way health care professionals track patient data, leading to sweeping changes in how they conduct their work. These patient records offer hospitals, clinics, and physician offices the ability to keep all patient data in one centralized location, in addition to offering the data to the patient at his or her fingertips. Now that these digital records have been implemented across the industry, it is up to current and future health care practitioners, including medical assistants, to use this patient data to make care-giving more efficient and effective.
2. Achieving Wellness through Mobile Devices
When patients aren't visiting a medical facility, many of them are using health and wellness apps on their phone to track their progress with various health goals. Patients can track everything from the number of steps they take each day, to their blood pressure and the quality of their sleep, all with a mobile device. Medical assistants who can use this information may be able to treat their patients more effectively, by using the data that is already available to them. They may also be able to recommend solutions that patients will actually use, by enabling their mobile devices to assist with their personal health.
3. The Broad Availability of Telehealth
Both health care providers and insurance companies alike understand the convenience of telehealth — where patients are given health advice over the phone. Many companies and organizations are relying on telehealth to offer their patients a remote way to manage their health. When a patient is able to get medical advice over the phone, it saves on time and resources for the health care provider while potentially saving money for insurance companies. Medical assistants may be called on more to handle these types of calls, or to manage them for the physicians working in their clinic, hospital, or office. In addition, telehealth systems are rapidly becoming more advanced, meaning they could play a larger role in patient care going forward.
4. Using Software for Diagnosis and Disease Control
Technologies are constantly changing in the health care field, especially when it comes to computing, according to an article in Forbes. While some health care organizations are testing the ability of robots and computing systems to help in patient care, other advanced technologies are available widely. New software is one such technology. Software is beginning to help in the diagnosis of patients, and with data collected over time, it may also be able to help with disease control. Medical assistants may be expected to use this software, and to ensure that data from all patients is entered into the software programs, in order to take advantage of new computing abilities.
5. Improved Data Collection
As technology evolves across industries, it is also changing in the daily work of medical assisting. Many facilities now have handheld devices available to medical professionals, to help with the collection of patient data, vital signs, and lab results. Data is collected more efficiently and stored in centralized systems or online servers. This data can then be used by health care facilities and researchers to identify trends, conduct studies, and improve health care processes.
Medical assisting is important work. On top of a variety of other tasks, it calls for professionals who are trained in computer applications.
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