What are the responsibilities and job description for the Medical Assistant, Triage position at La Familia Medical Center?
Position Function Summary
Under the direction of the Licensed Nurse, the Medical Assistant, Triage provides patient care and other related clinical, laboratory, technical and support activities to providers and licensed nursing staff who provide direct patient care.
Essential Responsibilities
- Interviews and conducts preliminary assessment and triage of patients to determine reasons for visit, obtains health history and checks pulse, temperature, blood pressure, weight, height, respiration, vision and hearing as needed and records data care concisely, accurately, and with higher specificity in the patient EMR chart; reports any vital sign variations from the last clinic visit to the medical provider;
- Cleans, stocks, and prepares equipment for examination rooms, nurse's stations, drug rooms, and mini lab as needed; Maintains office and medical supplies, and other materials through timely and accurate inventory and requisition procedures for exam and treatment rooms;
- Assists providers with therapeutic procedures, physical examinations, immunizations, injectable and oral medications, testing and monitoring patients for possible reactions to medications and treatments, and other special procedures; assists with follow up on normal/abnormal patient testing;
- Obtains capillary blood, throat swabs and urine specimens from patients as directed by the provider; following departmental procedures for patient identification and labeling of specimens according to OSHA guidelines;
- Coordinates patient scheduling for providers, including regular and specialty appointments, in consultation with appropriate clinical and provider staff;
- Continuously communicate with other staff members of care team to monitor and record patients’ conditions;
- Assist walk-in patients and assess their medical needs;
- Educates patients when appropriate regarding immediate and/or preventive care;
- Refers to LFMC providers, urgent care or hospital as appropriate;
- Initiates contraceptive management, pregnancy testing and options counseling;
- Conducts initial intake assessment and reports all findings to the licenses nurse and/or provider;
- Trains new triage medical assistants during the initial 90-day period and provides ongoing support;
- Responsible for incoming calls to determine appropriate plan of care based on nurse triage protocols and refers to licensed nurse as needed;
- Responsible for medication renewals according to policy and procedure;
- Assumes additional responsibilities as assigned
Education, Experience and Skills/Training
- High School graduate or GED certificate required. Graduation from a technical school with appropriate degree and/or certification such as Nurse Assistant/Aide program preferred. Six months related experience is preferred; or any equivalent combination of experience, training and/or education approved by Human Resources.
- CPR certification required.
- Required, basic knowledge of clinical procedures in order to prepare patients for their examination.
- Ability to read and interpret medical documents and records, write at a moderate level of competence, communicate effectively.
- LFMC required training Including, but not limited to: basic Annual Safety, Bloodborne pathogen, Infectious control, Hazardous Communication, HIPAA Training;
- Basic Knowledge and ability of general office procedures including filing, copying, faxing, use of a computer, to multitask within established deadlines, work under the direction of a supervisor and follow instructions for work completion, and take initiative to resolve patient concerns and problems;
- Fluent in Spanish and English, strongly preferred.
La Familia Medical Center offers a comparable benefits package