If you’re currently in school or thinking of going to school for a medical profession, then you’ve likely imagined yourself in different patient scenarios. One of the most frightening prospects for any medical assistant is being faced with a medical emergency. You might’ve wondered what you’d do or how you’d handle an emergency, especially if it happened outside of the workplace. Whether you’re a medical assistant specializing in emergency care or you work in an outpatient doctor’s office, you may be required to perform emergency care at some point in your career. To help you prepare for the worst, Prism Career Institute outlines what you’d be expected to do when faced with an emergency as a medical assistant.
Emergency Care Duties
Whether you find yourself employed in a hospital, private practice, or another facility, all medical workers are bound by their profession to help those in need. So as a medical assistant, you could expect to put your emergency medical training to the test, including first aid or even CPR administration. When faced with an emergency in a medical setting, your most important duties would include stabilizing and securing a patient before alerting a nurse or physician about the situation. Although it might be a scary thought, you must be sure to act quickly and professionally in an emergency medical scenario to attain the best outcome for the patient.
Alternatively, if you witness an emergency outside of the medical environment, your responsibilities would slightly expand. In these instances, calling 911 would sit at the top of your task list. Then, after putting your phone on speaker mode for easy communication with the dispatcher, you would perform whatever emergency medical care is needed. A major component of this emergency care would be to move the affected person(s) to safety. Depending on where you are, the surrounding environment could contain hazards, such as moving vehicles, large crowds of people, and more. If you are unable to move the affected person(s) by yourself, try enlisting the help of passersby. Combat the well-documented bystander effect by pointing at individuals and giving them explicit direction, which can include asking for help with moving an unconscious person. Once you’ve reached a safe place, you can administer emergency care until an ambulance arrives.
Although we wish they wouldn’t, medical emergencies can occur at any time and in any place. As a medical assistant, you will be expected to provide emergency care to the best of your ability if the need arises. However, help is never far away in today’s interconnected world. By seeking the aid of the appropriate people, including EMTs, nurses, doctors, bystanders, and others, you can provide quality, even life-saving emergency care to those who need it.
Prepare for Emergencies with Prism Career Institute
Few things can prepare you to face medical emergencies like experience. That’s why at Prism Career Institute, our medical assistant program facilitates your participation in an externship, providing you with hands-on experience under the supervision of a healthcare expert.
As our curriculum attests, our main goal is to fully prepare you for the road ahead. If you’re interested in enrolling in the medical assistant program at Prism Career Institute, contact our admissions office by calling 1-888-966-8146 or filling out our online form. With locations in Cherry Hill and West Atlantic City, New Jersey, we can help prepare you to face future emergency medical situations.