Medical Assistant

About the role

A podiatry medical assistant is one who specializes in ankle and foot care. They keep the medical office running efficiently and take on many tasks.

Responsibilities

• Prepares patients for examination by taking vitals; recording medical history into Epic
• Escorting patients to and from exam rooms
• Complying with OSHA and HIPPA regulations
• Scheduling surgeries by making arrangements with the surgical centers; verifying times with patients; preparing charts, pre-admission and consent forms
• Assisting the physician with procedures
• Giving patients injections as directed by the physician
• Casting for Orthotics
• Applying Below knee cast
• Applying Low Dying strapping to feet
• Applying Unna Boots
• Performing Nail Debridement
• Performing Callus/Corn debridement
• Dressing changes
• Performing X-Rays
• Documenting phone calls
• Returning Patient Messages; Completing In-Baskets
• Updating Logs

Qualifications

• High School diploma or equivalent required
• At least one (1) year of experience preferred
• Medical Assistant Certification is preferred
• Epic experience is preferred

Physical Demands

• Regularly required to sit, stand, bend, reach and squat
• Frequent computer usage including the ability to type as well as verbally communicate with patients and co-workers
• Occasional lifting up to 30lbs
• Assist with rooming patients, filing, and other basic office tasks to include keeping office environment and waiting room clean

Inventory

• We receive daily deliveries of medical products and supplies from UPS/FedEx in large boxes; these are unpacked by medical assistants and placed in appropriate supply cabinets throughout the offices as they arrive so as not to block corridors.
• Materials such as durable medical equipment (boots, braces, etc) arrive in boxes weighing over 50 pounds and require maneuvering and unpacking.

Orthotics

• Casting for custom foot orthoses is a routine occurrence (multiple times daily) in a podiatric physician’s office. This requires retrieving and assembling materials for casting, including large basins of warmed water for plaster application.
• These basins when full weigh 20 pounds and require lifting from a sink to a rolling stand to be pushed to a casting suite.
• For pre-fabricated inserts, the ability to reach overhead (Buckhead) storage shelving or under counter (Stockbridge and Fayetteville offices) racks is imperative as we dispense these throughout the day.

X-rays

• Radiographs are a routine part of treatment for podiatric conditions with roughly half of patients receiving xrays on their visits. We utilize floor xrays for weight bearing capture and medical assistants are expected to aid foot positioning by kneeling or stooping to position the foot appropriately.
• We use digital radiograph systems with a movable cassette sensor that weighs 10 pounds. This sensor has to be inserted into slots for appropriate capture. One slot is parallel to the ground and is 1/2 inch from the floor; this sensor has to be removed completely, lifted 2 feet then reinserted at a 90 degree angle in a differently position for alternate positions. The assistant must be able to bend down and lift these cassettes without dropping them.

Patient Transfer

• Many of our patients are elderly and some are incapacitated. Medical assistants are expected to assist patients on and off treatment chairs, assist in moving limbs, removing and replacing shoes and boots.
• Occasionally patients are unable to get into our treatment chairs, as they frail or are in wheelchairs. In preparing these patients for physician exam there is a necessity for medical assistants to sit on the floor to remove shoes and socks or perform nail debridements while leaning, stooping or sitting on the ground.

Casting

• Part of post surgical and fracture care requires casting and/or bandage application. Medical assistants are expected to hold a limb in position for these scenarios while the physician applies soft materials or fiberglass.
• A human limb can weigh in excess of 50 pounds and often much more and application of a cast may take 10 or more minutes.
• Podiatrists routinely apply bandages and casts with medical assistant aiding multiple times a day.

Instrument Processing

• Each patient is guaranteed to receive clean and sterile instruments. After their visit, these instruments are collected in a universal basin for rinsing, cleansing, packaging and sterilization on a counter sterilizer.
• This requires 15-20 minutes of leaning over a sink and reaching into a large basin while each instrument is individually handled.
• A sterilization tray when loaded with instruments may weight in excess of 10 pounds depending on the number and quantity of instruments used.
• Sterilization is performed several times throughout the day and at the end of each day in preparation for the next days’ clinic.

Procedures

• Podiatrists routinely (greater than 4-5 times daily) perform procedures such as removing ingrown toenails, removing foreign bodies, excision of warts and debridement of wounds on the feet and legs.
• Many of these require preparation of a sterile tray (mayo stand, sterile instrument packs and draping.) This involves movement of 15 pound metal mayo stands into and out of rooms, opening and assembling sterile instrument packs which involves reaching over a field to maintain sterility, and assisting with a procedure (passing medications, cutting sutures, saline flushes, retrieving specimens, etc.)
• Procedures can last between 5-20 minutes, requiring concentration and proactive involvement of the assistant.

Bandages

• Medical assistants are expected to perform routine nail debridements under the supervision of the physician. This involves prepping the patient, removal of elongated or fungal toenail material with manual instrumentation and motorized grinders, cleansing of debris and re-donning socks and shoes.
• Generally 10-12 patients per day are treated for conditions requiring nail debridement.

Medications

• Medical assistants are expected to draw and deliver medications to treatment rooms (lidocaine, marcaine, cantharone, etc.) These medications are stored in lockable overhead cabinets per regulations and require reaching over head into and out of the cabinet.
• Precision is required for medication draws to prevent wrong medication delivery and exact dose measuring to prevent adverse events.
• Concentration, dexterity, and reaching overhead are required very routinely throughout the course of the work day.

Record Keeping

• Medical assistants are required to bring patients to the treatment rooms from the waiting room, assist with getting them into the chair, take and record vitals and pertinent medical history.
• This information is then entered into their electronic chart. Vitals consist of temperature and blood pressure measurement. It is expected that the assistant can reach around a patients arm to assemble blood pressure cuffs to perform the read.
• Concentration is required to adequately and accurately capture chief complaints, pertinent histories, medication lists, and vitals which must be recorded in a timely manner.

General Office Cleaning

• Medical assistants maintain the back office supplies (inventory and replenishment) and cleaning. After each patient visit chairs are wiped down with sanitizer as are the counters cabinets and any items in the room that have been touched.
• At the end of each treatment session or day trash is removed from the rooms and new bags replaced.
• Trash is collected at the end of each day and brought to an on-site dumpster.