When you start your career as a medical assistant, you may choose to work in a family practice medical office. While some medical offices focus on one area of medical specialization, family practice offices cover a wide range of areas.
Family practice doctors are a throwback to a time when physicians would treat all the members of a family for most of their lives. This means that they have a broad knowledge of medical practice, from pediatrics to geriatrics and everything in between. There are still family practice offices of various sizes. Some family practice offices are a single physician, others are a physician group.
Medical assistants work under the supervision of a physician to handle both clinical and administrative tasks to help patients receive the best healthcare possible.
Difference Between Family Practice and Specialty Offices
Many physicians work in a practice where they concentrate on a single medical specialty. Family practice is the opposite of that - a general practice or family practice physician does a bit of everything. This type of office is a great environment for medical assistants still early in their career. Going straight into a specialty is not "terrible" but family practice is more broad. You can still learn a lot about the human body in a specialty practice, but many MAs choose to go into family practice first.
Why Work in Family Practice as a Medical Assistant?
When you first start working as a medical assistant, you don’t yet know if there’s a specialty that appeals to you above the rest. In a family practice setting, you’ll have the opportunity to do a bit of everything, and you’ll be exposed to different branches of medicine. By gaining experience in different specialties, you can determine what types of medical offices you gravitate towards the most. You might end up enjoying family practice and stay there, or you might also find different specialties you enjoy even more!
Responsibilities of Medical Assistants in a Family Practice
Traditionally, medical assistants help ensure the patient schedule flows smoothly in a medical office, without sacrificing quality of care. A medical assistant in a family practice office will help with several front-office and clinical tasks, including:
- Have patients fill out consent forms for examination and procedures
- Patient intake and check-in
- Recording patient current weight
- Taking vital signs
- Preparing patient for examination
- Collecting patient samples for diagnostic testing
- Giving EKG tests if needed
- Scheduling patients for further diagnostic tests
- Giving pediatric patients vaccinations
- Administering flu shots to adult patients
- Hemoglobin and blood sugar testing
- Drawing blood when needed for diagnostic tests (some states require a CPT I license)
- Updating patient electronic health records
- Contact pharmacy to verify what prescriptions have been filled for patient recently
- Inputting patient insurance information
- Relaying information from physician to patient
- Ensure examination rooms are cleaned and fully stocked
- Maintain HIPAA compliance and patient privacy
Some offices have more equipment and different capabilities than others. Depending on what physician group you work for, you could end up helping the physician prepare for invasive procedures like an endoscopy or colonoscopy. Not every family practice office is set up for these procedures, but some physician group offices have this range of coverage.
Getting a Job in Family Practice as a Medical Assistant
The demand for trained, certified medical assistants is higher than ever. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 15% increase in medical assistant jobs between 2023 and 2033[1]. As you apply for jobs and get interviews, take some time to research each medical office. If possible, find out what the MA workflow looks like in each office when you go to an interview. Each physician runs their office a little differently. Some physicians might have nurses on staff in their office, and many others might only have medical assistants and physicians. If possible, try to find out what your role is going to be and what your responsibilities will look like when you apply and interview. Do research beforehand by looking at their website (if they have one) or looking at LinkedIn to see who is currently on staff at each office.
Prepare your resume by highlighting your work experience and training. If you’ve already done an externship, be sure to list all the responsibilities you had at your previous medical facility.
Patient Advocacy
Family practice offices can get extremely busy. Medical assistants are the first people to speak with the patients, they prepare them for the examination, they hear their concerns. Physicians can get overwhelmed with their schedule of patients, and sometimes it is difficult to fully hear and understand a patient’s concerns. As an MA, you will convey information to the physician before their own examination of the patient.
That’s where the medical assistants come in and play an important role. The medical assistant can give valuable input to the physician and communicate the patient’s concerns to the doctor. Your empathy, communication, and advocacy skills will be used every day in a general practice medical office.
Stay Curious and Teachable
Many physicians like working with medical assistants who have a curiosity about healthcare and patient care. When medical assistants strive to keep learning more outside of their regular job duties, it helps them do their job more thoroughly and efficiently. Understanding how all the medical processes work on a general level can help you become a better asset to any physician’s office, now and in the future.
Become a Medical Assistant at Our Sacramento Vocational School
If you’re planning a career in healthcare, Campus Sacramento has a Medical Assisting program that will get you fully trained to begin your career. You’ll learn the administrative and clinical skills you need to get your first jobs in medical assisting, and the knowledge you need to pass your certification exam. Our graduates are ready to work in the healthcare industry as certified medical assistants. What are you waiting for? Your new career is closer than you think. For more information, contact our Admissions team or call 888-675-2460.
[1] Note: The data provided above are from a source unaffiliated with Campus, formerly known as MTI College, are for informational purposes only and represent the employment field as a whole. They are not solely specific to Campus graduates and, by providing the above information, Campus makes no representation, direct or implied, or opinion regarding employability.