Choosing to become a medical assistant as a profession is both a rewarding and challenging choice. It is also not easy to become a certified medical assistant, so you must go through rigorous training before getting a real job.
To become a medical assistant, you have to undergo comprehensive training sessions and pass a certification exam after you have earned your medical assistant degree to make sure that you are knowledgeable about the profession.
As with all professions, however, there are certain qualities you should also have to become a reliable and successful medical assistant. Here are four characteristics you must embody to become one:
Stress Management
Handling stress is a trait that they do not teach you in school, but you must learn how to do it. It is imperative to know how to manage stress well because you will be handling people on the job.
As a medical assistant, you must do well under pressure, not letting yourself get drowned by stressful surroundings. A medical office can be a bustling place, especially during peak seasons like the holidays. You will have to multitask more often than you can expect, juggling from handling people to paperwork.
If you cannot handle a fast-paced work environment right now, you have to prepare and train yourself even while still studying. Learning how to manage your stress well despite doing physically and mentally draining tasks is a must in this kind of industry.
Good Communication Skills
Medical assistants are usually the first people patients interact with when they come to a doctor’s office, clinic, or other healthcare facilities. This demand is why good intrapersonal skills are needed for the job—you are always facing other people.
You have to be welcoming and inviting rather than snappy and frightening. You are also tasked with obtaining a patient’s medical history, scheduling appointments, and relaying treatment plans. These tasks need someone who can give information without sounding rude or unfriendly.
Technical Knowledge
A medical assistant should also be knowledgeable about some medical subjects like anatomy and physiology. Just because you are usually doing desk work does not mean you should not know essential medical topics. You have to understand how to perform basic procedures like recording vital signs to assist the doctor thoroughly.
Knowing first aid is also a must because there can be emergency events inside the hospital or clinic. Doctors might not always be present, so you must be ready with some relief procedures to help patients.
Empathy
When you work in the medical field, the demand does not only stay on how much you know. It’s also how much you can be an emotional support to people with health concerns and their families.
As a medical assistant, you have to be ready to help the patients handle the rollercoaster of emotions they will go through. You must know how to put yourself in your patients’ shoes to better connect with them and offer better healthcare.
Final Thoughts
Becoming a medical assistant is no easy feat, just like any other medical-related profession. As you work with nurses and doctors closely, you must be ready to deliver high-quality work, whether providing care to patients or doing administrative tasks that equally matter for their healthcare.
If you are looking for an institution that can give you quality healthcare career training to help you get a medical assistant diploma, check Northwest Suburban College. We offer the best medical assistant programs in Schaumburg, IL, so you are sure that you will get adequate knowledge and training to become a great medical assistant.
