Technical Abilities and Occupational Hazards

• Move within confined space
• Sit/stand and maintain balance for prolonged periods
• Reach above shoulders and below waist
• Sustain repetitive movement
• Perform client care for an entire length of clinical experience, 8-12 hours
• Sufficient motor function to elicit information from patients by palpation, percussion, and other assessment maneuvers

• Pick up objects with hands
• Grasp small objects with hands
• Write with pen or pencil
• Keyboard/Type (use a computer)
• Pinch/pick or otherwise work with fingers (syringe; withdraw blood)
• Twist (turn knobs with hands)
• Squeeze with finger (eye dropper)

• Identify cause and effect relationships
• Plan/control activities for others
• Synthesize knowledge and skills
• Sequence information

• Push or pull clients to ensure proper positioning
• Support client during ambulation
• Lift clients to transfer
• Move heavy objects
• Defend self against combative client
• Carry equipment/supplies
• Use upper body strength (CPR, restrain a client)
• Squeeze with hands (fire extinguisher)
• Twist and bend
• Stoop, squat
• Move quickly
• Climb (ladder stairs)
• Physical endurance to complete an 8 hour shift
• Lift 50 lbs

• The ability to demonstrate visual and auditory acuity within normal range (with correction if needed) in order to observe a patient accurately at a distance and close at hand.
• Auditory interpretation of normal speaking level sound
• Accurately interpret faint voices
• Auscultate faint body sounds (BP), bowel sounds, lung sounds, heart sounds
• Use depth perception and peripheral vision
• Accurately interpret small print on medication containers, syringes, discriminate color changes, read type at 8 font, and document on college ruled paper
• Accurately read monitors and equipment calibrations
• Detect odors from client
• Detect smoke, gases or noxious smells
• Feel vibrations (pulses)
• Detect temperature
• Feel differences in surface characteristics
• Feel differences in sizes, shapes (palpate vein)
• Detect environmental temperature

• Establish therapeutic boundaries
• Provide client with emotional support
• Adapt to rapidly changing environmental support
• Deal with unexpected (crisis)
• Focus attention on task
• Perform multiple responsibilities concurrently
• Handle strong emotions (grief)
• Maintain behavioral decorum in stressful situations
• Maintain adequate concentration and attention in client care settings

• Negotiate interpersonal conflict
• Respect differences in clients
• Provide client with emotional support
• Establish rapport with clients and co-workers
• Teach and provide information in an accurate and effective manner
• Report client information to other caregivers

• Read & understand columns of writing
• Read digital displays and graphics printouts (I&O)
• Calibrate equipment
• Convert numbers to/from metric
• Read graphs (vital sign sheets)
• Measure time (duration)
• Count rates (pulse rate)
• Calculate medication dosages & IV solution rates
• Use measuring tools (thermometer)
• Read measurement marks (scales)
• Add, subtract, multiply, divide
• Use a calculator
• Write number in records

• Transfer knowledge from one situation to another
• Evaluate outcomes
• Problem solve and prioritize
• Use short and long term memory
• Accurately assess B/P, heart, lung, vascular and abdominal sounds
• Identify cyanosis, absence of respiration and movements of client rapidly and accurately
• Accurately process information on medication container, physician’s orders, equipment calibrations, printed documents, flow and graphic sheets, medication administration records, and other medical records

As with any healthcare position, there are certain occupational risks that come into play with being a medical assistant, and those hazards include the following:

• Exposure to infectious diseases
• Sharps injuries
• Bloodborne pathogens and biological hazards
• Chemical and drug exposure
• Ergonomic hazards from lifting, sitting, and repetitive tasks
• Latex allergies
• Stress

At the same time, there are protections set up with the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), and those protections are particularly important within a healthcare environment. OSHA has a series of standards that protect the safety of healthcare workers and patients.

Accredited medical assisting programs are required to teach students about the hazards that they face on the job and the protocols that can be put into place to ensure a workplace culture that prioritizes safety.