Consider these 12 essential traits of a medical assistant to see whether this position would be a good fit for you.
1. Communication Skills
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You must be able to translate medical lingo into layman's terms for the patient. For example, if a doctor tells you to report the results of a specific test to a patient, you must be able to paraphrase the doctor's words using language that the patient will understand.
2. Outgoing
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You need to be proactive when meeting new people, and you must be able to interact professionally with people throughout the day. For example, you may go into a patient's room to deliver medication. You will need to introduce yourself and see how that patient is doing. Next, you may need to take a phone call, and then communicate with a new doctor in the hallway. This may be difficult for more withdrawn people.
3. Good Listener
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Listening is essential in the medical field. Throughout the day, you will need to listen carefully to the needs and concerns of several patients. Nurses and doctors will give you detailed instructions to follow, and you will need to remember all of these things to ensure that no essential detail is forgotten.
4. Compassionate
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When patients are experiencing pain, be there to comfort and support them. Even though you may have several patients suffering all at once, you need to go into each room with the attitude that your whole focus is solely on the patient in that room.
5. Nonjudgmental
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You must never gossip or hold negative feelings towards those who practice a different lifestyle than you do. For example, you have to be professional and caring whether you are treating a victim of drunk driving or the drunk driver. You are in this profession to heal, not to harm, and certainly not to judge.
6. Self-Controlled
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Dealing with death and undesirable test results on a daily basis, a medical office can be an emotional place. Especially when patients blame you for their problems, it may be easy to get angry, upset, or frustrated. As a medical assistant, however, you need to have the self-control to maintain a professional composure no matter what you face.
7. Organized
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Consider a day in which you will need to take care of multiple patients, fill out the necessary paperwork, and communicate with several other people. All of these tasks need to be done at a certain time of the day, and no one can be forgotten. This is a typical day as a medical assistant. Multitasking and efficient organization are key.
8. Adaptable
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You need to be able to bounce back and forth between patient interaction and administrative tasks. You also need to be able to treat all of your patients precisely how they will feel most comfortable. Thus, you must have an adaptable personality.
9. Problem Solver
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You will face patient questions and insurance problems every day. When a supervisor cannot be found, you may have to address difficult issues on your own. Solving problems without making excuses is essential to your work.
10. Follows Directions
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There is no room for disobeying or forgetting the instructions of doctors and nurses. Everything that you do is under their authority. Even if a doctor prescribes a treatment with which you personally disagree, you must follow those instructions.
As you can see, getting a medical assistant associate degree isn't everything. You also need to possess or develop characteristics that will complement what you learned in school. If you don't have all of these traits yet, you can get there. You do have the power within you to make all of these traits your own and become a great medical assistant.
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
