Clinical Assistant

Clinical Assistants perform many tasks that aid Doctors, Technicians, and patients. These tasks range from billing and paperwork to diagnostic tests. Clinical Assistants are usually employed in hospitals or private Doctor’s offices, but you may also work in clinics and health agencies.

If you’re a Clinical Assistant, you answer phones, register and schedule patients, maintain inventory, handle billing paperwork, and ensure that treatment and exam rooms are clean and well maintained. You also prep patients by escorting and seating them in exam rooms, taking their medical history, updating their chart, asking the reason for the visit, noting medications, and taking vital signs. If necessary, you collect and prepare blood and bodily fluid specimens, and perform appropriate laboratory or diagnostic tests. Then you read, interpret, and record test results, and inform the Physician and patient about these.

You’re mostly responsible for general office and support duties. These include many seemingly unenviable tasks. But you must remember that yours is an extremely important job because you play a supportive role, helping Doctors and patients determine, diagnose, and treat diseases and infections.

If you’re interested in a work environment where you can help sick people feel and get better, then this may be a good position for you. A strong desire to help others and a genuine concern for the welfare of patients are required. Good communication skills, along with the ability to stay calm in potentially stressful situations and to deal with a diverse group of people, are necessary for this job as well.