Month: April 2021

This was the first week without the MA that trained me… It was so weird not having her there when I needed her. 

This was my last week of my externship as well. There was a temporary MA was covering the position. I had to work with a few different people. It was a little difficult because I was used to how I was taught to do the job and they were trying to teach me different methods of how to do the work I needed to do. But what frustrated me was that I was taught by the MA that had that job. She taught me everything about her job and how to do it correctly and efficiently. 

Friday was my last day and I had my evaluation and I got a pretty good score. I was happy for it to be over. I didn’t have a lot of time outside of school and work. But I had a great experience over all. I learned a ton and was able to use my knowledge in the real medical field. 

This week was the big week!! Taking the reins for the week. 

Since it was spring break, I was able to work 10 hours shifts like everyone else. I worked a 40 hour week this week. Woke up at 5:30 am, got to work at 7, had my first patient around 8 and then went home around 5 – 5:30 pm. That is the schedule for a lot of health care workers. 

Monday and Wednesday are procedure days. We started to get back into the routine of back to back procedures. Because of the pandemic, we didn’t have a lot of patients scheduled back to back. But now it is started to get back to “normal”. When we called back the patients we had to verify their last name and date of birth to insure that we had the correct patient. Then we got their weight, blood pressure, temperature, oxygen and heart rate. This was crucial for pre-procedures to insure that they are ok for the procedure. Also to update their patient information. We also had to make sure they stopped their medications or wasn’t taking any additional medications that would interfere with the procedure. Post-procedure we would get the vital signs again. This is also crucial because the procedure could effect them like dizziness, numbness, and tingling which can effect the way they feel. After they were ready, they either had to go schedule a follow-up or they didn’t have to schedule anything further. 

The rest of the week was just new patients or follow up appointments. We still had to get vitals and PHQ-9 depression form like normal but new patients were a little different. We had to get additional information which included, patient family history. 

I was really getting the hang of how the clinic was ran and what was expected of me as an MA (medical assistant). 

My Fifth week was more and more training with the new team. 

On Monday I went to work and the lady that has been training me told me that she put in her 2 weeks notice because she got a management position at a brokerage company. I didn’t really know how to feel with that news. Don’t get me wrong, I was very happy for her, but also scared to know she wouldn’t be there. 

That entire week, I was getting extensive training. A lot more then I originally was going to get. 

Near the end of the week she turned to me and said, “Hey, next week I want you to basically do my job so you know what to do after I leave.” I then said, “Ummm.. Ok!” 

She always said that it’s ok that I don’t know everything at the moment because “I am baptizing you in fire”. Meaning, that I am getting a ton of information thrown at me all at once. I tried my best to do everything correct the first try. But I am only human after all. Anyways, I was a bit nervous for next week only because I’ll be the one running the show.