How Can a Medical Assistant be a Good Communicator: Soft Skills You Need for the Job

If you are interested in working in the medical field but don't want to commit to nursing or medical school, an attractive alternative is to enroll in a medical assistant program. These dedicated professionals can work in hospitals and laboratory settings, but more frequently find work staffing physicians' offices.

Medical assistants receive training in two areas — clinical skills like administering injections, drawing blood, and taking patients' vital signs, and front office duties that may include setting patient appointments and dealing with insurance companies to get pre-authorization approvals and track down payments. A well-trained medical assistant should be able to move effortlessly from scheduling appointments to running basic in-house lab tests throughout the workday.

Why Communication is Key

Patients often refer to a doctor's "bedside manner." Medical assistants may not be at patients' bedsides, but they do have frequent, ongoing contact with them. When people visit the doctor, they are typically ill and anxious. They may have just gotten bad test results or be anticipating a serious diagnosis. Medical assistants should display patience, empathy, and professionalism in all their interactions. A good bedside manner can allay some of the patients' concerns and put them at ease during a stressful visit.

You also need good listening skills as a medical assistant. Focus on your patient when they talk to you. Don't allow yourself to get distracted. Patients often list one thing as their chief complaint and then reveal other, perhaps more distressing, symptoms when they are alone with you in the exam room. Make sure that you listen to and record all relevant information that your patient provides.

Language Must be Accurate

Doctors rely on their trusted medical assistants to explain medical instructions clearly and concisely to patients using non-technical language that the patients can easily understand. Also, many medical practices actively seek medical assistants who are fluent in more than one language.

Conversely, you must be well versed in medical terminology, because you will need to coordinate tests with other doctors' offices, labs, and hospitals. Because most medical assistants routinely speak with pharmacists when calling in patients' prescription medicines, you need to correctly pronounce (and spell) drug names that may sound quite similar to other medications that treat very different conditions.

HIPAA and Patient Confidentiality

In addition to knowing how best to communicate information in various settings with different parties, as a medical assistant you also have to learn how and under which conditions patient data may be shared with others. Because medical assistants are privy to patients' medical information, all must understand and comply with the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). This includes things like not sharing any information in a patient's chart with other medical providers or patients' family members unless the patient has signed a release giving permission.

HIPAA laws also prohibit discussing patient lab results or calling in medications too loudly or in an open area where other patients or unauthorized parties could overhear. HIPAA laws also apply to office colleagues who have no direct involvement in your patient's care. Additionally, maintaining strict patient confidentiality at all times includes never leaving a laptop open where someone might glimpse a patient's chart notes.

Good Writing Skills a Plus

Medical assistants are responsible for charting their interactions with patients and listing their vital signs. You will be recording detailed patient histories, so you need to learn how to chart information in a logical, concise manner. Today, most medical offices capture and store patient records electronically, which requires familiarizing yourself with the electronic health record (EHR) software that the office utilizes.

Medical Assistants and Triage

If you are working as a medical assistant in a hospital, you will need to learn how to triage patients according to treatment protocols, and be able to communicate important information quickly and accurately to the nurses and doctors who will be treating them.

Excellent Telephone Manners

A significant portion of a medical assistant's day may be spent on the telephone. Scheduling patient appointments, confirming refills, negotiating with insurance companies, and calming nervous patients before invasive tests are all important aspects of your job. You should be pleasant but assertive, yet never aggressive — even with the most difficult patients.

Soft Skills Equally as Important as Clinical

While it's very important to be able to correctly take a patient's blood pressure and give an injection, it's just as important to be calmly reassuring as you remove a few sutures from a child's knee. Medical assistants must have top-notch interpersonal skills to succeed in this fast-paced field.

Are You Ready to Begin Your Journey?

If you can see yourself as a medical assistant, you'll need to earn an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Health Science with a Focus in Medical Assisting. For more information on this exciting program, connect with a friendly admissions advisor today.

It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

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