A great way for a med school applicant stand out from the crowd is to have medical experience. It can be paid experience, such as working as a medical assistant, phlebotomy technician, patient care technician or nursing assistant. It can also be volunteer experience, such as volunteering at a hospital or clinic. At PCT, many of our students are medical school and PA school applicants. Our medical assistant program is popular with our pre-med and pre-PA students as once they have their national certifications, they may work in doctors’ offices and hospitals, getting the required experience to be a stand out applicant showing commitment to their field of study.

Medical Assistants

Medical assistants, also known as “clinical assistants” or healthcare assistants is an allied health professional which supports the work of physicians and other health professionals, usually in a clinical setting. Medical assistants perform routine clinical and administrative duties under the direct supervision of a physician or other health care professional.

Why Should Med-School Applicants Become a Certified Medical Assistant?

Here are just a few of the benefits of becoming a Certified Medical Assistant:

• Increase Employment Opportunities: Medical Assistant certification is a great thing to list on a med school applicant resume, and it can end up being the difference that gets you a call back for an in-demand job over other applicants.
• More Job Choices: According to the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA), Certified Medical Assistants are the most versatile allied health professionals, and have a wider range of job opportunities available to them. From pediatrics to geriatric care, A Medical Assistant certification will give you a bigger selection of medical settings to choose from.
• Room for Growth: For those that aspire to move up in the medical field, becoming a Certified Medical Assistant is a great way to get started and propel you towards a more specialized position. Working as a Medical Assistant is a great way to hone your skills in a professional healthcare setting.

What do Med School Applicants expect from a Medical Assistant Certification?

There are thousands of medical assisting programs at community colleges and technical schools. Each has its own individualized curriculum and may structure their program differently. However, all upcoming MA’s must learn the same basic skills in order to succeed.

• Anatomy and Physiology: One of the building blocks of a medical assistant education is the Anatomy and Physiology class. Most medical assistant programs ensure that their students learn the basics of anatomy and physiology. During this class you’ll learn about the different systems of the body and how they work together.
• Medical Billing and Coding: A common task of a medical assistant is billing and coding. Students will learn about the various types of insurance, how they are billed, how to properly prepare a superbill, as well as diagnosis and procedure codes. Ensuring that the patient’s health plan covers the visit and how to properly refer a patient to a specialist, are also vital skills that will be learned. Proper billing and coding procedures are vital to the medical practice, as they are the source of income for the business. Medical billing and coding is also an entire career in itself, allowing some medical assistants the opportunity to create their own business..
• Cardiopulmonary system and electrocardiography: Medical assistant programs provide this class that teaches about the components of the cardiopulmonary system, including the heart and lungs. If CPR was not taught previously, it would definitely be in the students favor to take it. Students will also learn how to perform electrocardiographs, which are commonly known as EKG. This may include both a non-stress and stress type of testing. Students may learn how to instruct patients how to use the portable Halter monitors, as well. The medical conditions caused by illness or injury to the heart and lungs will be taught, as well as basic medications and procedures used by physicians to treat these conditions.
• Laboratory procedures and clinical assistant: This class will focus on the procedures you will use in the back office while working as a clinical medical assistant. This includes escorting the patient to the room, performing checks of vitals, drawing blood and collecting other samples for the laboratory, and giving injections. Students will learn how to perform specific laboratory procedures, such as hematocrit, urine tests, and separating blood and plasma.
• Clinical Externship: This portion of the program is where the student will work variable hours in an actual doctor’s office. Depending upon whether you are a back office, a front office, or both, your externship will be in the area that you are specializing in. During student’s externship, they will get hands on experience working with real patients. All of the skills students have learned during their medical assisting education will be utilized during the externship. Mastery of the skills will usually be evaluated after the externship/ clinical has ended. The extern site supervisor will report your progress and give your school representative a grade for your externship and provide documentation displaying skills performed.

Hospice Care is defined as a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient’s pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. In this article, however, we want to throw out sterile definitions and take a closer look at what it means to care for patients that are terminally ill, and the most important aspect of what a great caregiver should have: Compassion.

The Need for Hospice Care

Hospice care is focused attention on caring for the dying with serious illnesses. These are patients that doctors think have only a short time to live, often less than 6 months. Believing that this physical and spiritual treatment will make a huge difference in the patient’s life, physicians, nurses and family members often opt to make this process as comfortable as possible. Hospice involves caring for dying patients by helping them be as free from pain as possible, providing them with assistance to complete wills and other arrangements for their survivors, giving them social support through the psychological stages of loss, and helping family members cope with the dying process, grief, and bereavement. In addition, the process of hospice care will prioritize comfort, quality of life, and individual wishes freely; far away from any stress or restrictions.

National Hospice resource

Levels of Hospice Care

Patients differ in needs and required care according to their health case; as a result, there are four different stages/ levels of hospice care that meets each patient’s needs.

The four levels of hospice care are available for anyone who is eligible for Medicare:

• Routine Home Care

Routine home care is the basic level of hospice care provided in your home, assisted living, or nursing home. This level of care offers a team approach by hospice staff and your physician to provide comfort at the end of life.

• Continuous Home Care

This is when a nurse stays in your home for an extended period of time because the patient is experiencing a medical crisis or having a severe symptoms such as unrelieved pain.

• General Inpatient Care

Once the patients’ severe symptom requires an advanced level of hospice, they should be moved to specialized places called “General Inpatient Care”. The goal of inpatient hospice care is to control severe pain and symptoms, so the patient can receive the care that is consistent with their wishes.

• Respite Care

The respite level of hospice care is provided on an occasional basis and offers a planned, short-term break for caregivers who face the challenges of assisting patients with an advanced illness. The patient should receive a plan of care require 24-hour care.

Who are the caregivers? 

Caregivers are the people who have unique features that reflect compassion, love, mercy and hope to give the patient a secure and comfortable space to live. They can be a member of the patient’s family or loved ones; otherwise, it can be people that are specialized to provide such care for the sake of a happy and satisfied final moment/ ending.

Caregivers do not only provide a perfect sensible space, but they also provide help that makes the patient’s life easier when it comes to their daily routine. I would describe the caregivers as “adaptors”, according to the way they adopt their feelings, ideas, and time to fit their patients needs.

In most cases the disciplinary teams include: the nurse, nurses aide, medical assistant, homehealth aide, social worker and the physician.

Hospice Caregivers Challenges 

Caregivers are responsible for taking care of the basic needs of patients and giving hope to the patients for their remaining time. However, there are hidden challenges that caregivers face while performing hospice care. Some of those challenges will be outlined below.

According to caregivers’ continuous care routine, they may face many challenges that affect their daily lives, such as being exhausted exhausted from long hours of work. In addition, caregivers may also have fears about losing their loved one/ patient at any time or making a mistake that could compromise their quality of life. Caregivers may also have a difficult time when it comes to making decisions that may jeopardize the patients comfort level, such as removing a favorite pillow for a new one, or a favorite chair for a newer model, as some patients can become very emotionally attached to these things. High levels of caregiver stress may drive those working in hospice care to feel angry with themselves and/or guilty about decisions they have had to make, often taking that stress home with them.

A Reason to care

Individuals taking care of patients in hospice settings aim to help patients feel mercy, compassion and love, with the goal of providing a peaceful and relaxing end. Often, the greatest challenge is helping the patient feel the will to continue on, as the will to live can often help patients in hospice care hold on for a few more precious moments with family and or loved ones. Giving compassionate care should always be emphasized in any health care setting, especially when caring for those in their final stages of life. This is where the field of medicine truly becomes a calling, not a job description.