What are the top 10 characteristics that a medical assistant should possess?

While your training will prepare you to do your job, understanding the skills you'll need will help you prepare your resume and ​cover letter.

Top Medical Assistant Skills

Different employers may emphasize different skills when hiring staff, so be sure to read all job descriptions carefully. Be ready to provide examples of how you embody each skill because most likely your interviewer will ask you to provide explanations.

Here's a look at the top medical assistant skills you'll need:

Basic Office Skills

These office skills are similar to those done by an administrative assistant in any field. You’ll need telephone courtesy, strong written and verbal communication, and strong customer service skills.

You will have to handle billing and bookkeeping, and you’ll have to troubleshoot computer problems. If you have experience with a particular computer system or software, mention that in your resume. Microsoft Excel and Word skills are commonly needed. You will need writing skills to handle correspondence.

Experience with specific phone systems, PC or Mac computers, and medical records management software may also be required.

Medical Administrative Skills

Medical administrative skills include monitoring inventories of medical supplies and re-ordering as needed, selecting the best suppliers by price and quality. You'll schedule patient appointments, arrange for hospital admissions, work with laboratory services, update patient records after exams and test results, and record medical histories.

You'll also have to handle billing, which involves processing insurance forms, reconciling co-pays, resolving insurance billing problems, and advocating for patients with their insurance companies.

You'll likely need to learn medical practice software and screen sales reps, as well.

Medical Skills

Medical assistants are not doctors or nurses but must provide simple medical and nursing care under the direction of doctors. You'll be asked to administer medications, give injections, apply dressings, draw blood, secure blood and urine samples, remove sutures, perform EKGs, and convey information and relay questions from doctors to patients and vice-versa. You'll prepare treatment rooms for patient examinations.

You'll arrange prescription refills, perform accurate assessments of vital signs, and possess basic life support (BLS) skills, such as CPR. You’ll have to follow infection control and safety guidelines as well as quality control standards when sterilizing and setting up instruments, maintaining medical equipment, and preparing treatment rooms for patient examinations. 

When you apply for a job, be sure to specify your relevant certifications.

Patient Interaction

Medical assistants often work directly with patients. Because of this, you need a whole set of skills related to customer service and what is loosely called “bedside manner.” You will need to explain medical instructions, information, and procedures in a clear, non-technical way and be able to receive, interview (and sometimes triage) patients.

You'll receive patients and prepare them for exams. You’ll also need to remain calm and supportive with distressed or difficult patients. Fluency in a second or third language is helpful. And of course, you’ll have to maintain confidentiality.

When interviewing, be prepared to discuss specific experiences with patients and how you handled them, while maintaining patient confidentiality.

Personal Qualities

Emphasize the personal qualities you possess that make you the best person for the job you're applying for. To be a medical assistant, you have to be detail-oriented, committed to accuracy, empathic, and adaptable. Good interpersonal skills are a must. You must also be able to multitask.

You should be well-organized, capable of prioritizing and problem-solving, and able to collaborate with teammates.

You must be an active listener. Possessing manual dexterity and speaking a foreign language are helping things to mention.

If you’re thinking of a career as a medical assistant, you could be on track to a rewarding career with great job prospects. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for medical assistants through 2022 is expected to grow a whopping 23 percent, much faster than average compared to other jobs. But do you have what it takes to be a part of this rewarding profession? Here are the 8 essential qualities you’ll need to be a medical assistant:

1. Compassionate: Do you like to help others? A caring and compassionate attitude is one of the most important qualities you’ll need as a medical assistant. When patients are sick, in pain or just scared about what’s happening to them, they really want a friendly face and caring attitude. Could that be you?
2. Good Communicator: Medical Assistants often serve as a liaison between patients and other caregivers. You’ll need to be a good listener so you know your patients’ concerns and a good communicator to provide that information to others. You may also need to translate what doctors and other health care providers are saying so patients really understand.
3. Ethical: Everything you see and do as a Medical Assistant could be protected under rules of ethics and patient confidentiality, so you really need to be able to keep a secret. Patients are sometimes at their most vulnerable when they come to see their doctor. They shouldn’t have to worry that something they say or do will be shared inappropriately.
4. Organized: Whether you’re helping in the front office with patient appointments and insurance information, or taking patient histories, you need to keep everything you do well-organized. Small mistakes can cause big problems and one of the best ways to avoid them is to stay organized!
5. Outgoing: You’ll need to interact confidently with lots of different people throughout your day as a Medical Assistant. You may also want to speak up on behalf of patients who aren’t feeling well or aren’t able to speak for themselves. Medical Assistants often serve as patient advocates, as they help them understand all that’s going on around them.
6. Accepting: Your patients may not look like you or have the same ideas or beliefs. But you have to treat everyone fairly. Regardless of why a patient is in need of your assistance, you need to be the same capable, warm and caring person you would be if you were treating a good friend.
7. Adaptable: Healthcare environments are often fast-paced and quickly changing. You may need to help out with several patients or just one at a time. And what works really well in one situation may not be as effective in another. Your ability to roll with the punches will help you help your patients!
8. Team Player: The best of today’s healthcare systems are run like really good teams where everyone has their job to do, but they all work together. If you’re a good team player, you’ll be able to follow directions, do your job well, and always place the needs of the patients first.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to become a medical assistant, check out the Medical Assisting program at Porter and Chester Institute today! We offer the program at all nine of our campus locations and classes are enrolling soon.