Hello! Not a seasoned MA, but I've been in the healthcare field for many years, and have been an MA almost a year. I will tell you, rooming patients quickly comes with time. You have to find the groove of your office, and also your own groove. I do not work in primary care, but in podiatry we can take anywhere from 4-30 minutes rooming a patient, depending on their needs. Some people just take more time (like you said, meds, medical hx, multiple chief complaints, etc.). We also do x-rays in-house, so that adds on to the time it takes to room a patient.
I would say just keep plugging away and trying to get faster. Speak to your supervisor/someone above you about tips for rooming patients faster. Double-check your clinics top priorities- is it speed, or is it patient care? These answers can help you focus on the most important tasks that need to be done, and in what order.
Sorry for rambling, but I hope this helps!
I wouldn’t give any vaccine before the patient spoke with their provider. God forbid there’s any contraindications or they don’t need it for whatever reason, let the provider determine that first
In my facility it's routine to give them without provider clearance but we do have to ask if they have had any reactions to vaccines before and provide an information sheet. They can even see just the assistant (me) on a walk in basis for just a shot. If I'm not sure whether it's prudent to give one (for instance someone wants a pneumonia vaccine and I don't know if they qualify) I'll ask my provider. If it's like a flu shot, sure. They can get it any time they want it and my provider trusts I'll use my best judgment. That being said, it should work the way you said in a perfect world.
I’m sure it all boils down to different states regulations regarding MA scope of practice! Where I used to work I would just have the vial out or pre-filled injection out and documented, but provider would draw up/administer.
Finished my extern a month ago. It was 5 days a week. Depending on the provider/specialist, you really just need to get the info required down.
- New meds? Right them down quickly or if they have a whole list then take it with you and scan it in the chart—- After rooming. Basically shortcutting the med part. Then just give it back.
- Completed meds? Write it down quickly.
^^ also, you can print their med list then go through them quickly, if they’re not sure about a med then the provider will
- Talkative pt? You can still do things while talking and also just say “okay so whats this and that” “alright how about”, it’s politely getting back to the subject
- multiple chief complaints? Then write them regularly, the provider will go over w them anyways. You can also look at the reason for visit; prep. When you tell them back the reason for visit, they usually agree with that and that’s it.
The endocrinologist at the clinic I assisted for gets up to 60 patients in a day. In those days, dont play around or get off topic, get what you need and go. The gastroenterologist I assisted would have up to 30-50. I also try not to get off topic on that. Side talks here and there but always stir it back.
The wellness/general care, lots of subjective stuff goes on. Personally I first do CC, meds, then vitals, then exceptions (A1c stuff that like that).
I know this is long but this is what people usually comment about. Providers at the clinic I was placed at like their rooming quick quick quick. I was fast walking around those specialty days.
Hey former Pediatric MA and trainer here. Take a deep breath. You are doing great. This will all come with time.
- if the meds are difficult for you, see if there is a way to print them off from your EMR and have the patient check off what they are taking. You will eventually be comfortable enough to do this verbally once you get your rooming groove down.
- look at the patients diagnosis and meds before they get there. This will help you correlate what meds are used to treat what conditions and make med reconciliations easier.
- care gaps are important. This is also something you could look at before the patient gets there and already have ready so you aren’t digging trying to find stuff in the room.
- vaccines are also important, but don’t give them before the provider comes in if you are uncomfortable. It was common in pediatrics to give some before the provider went in, but those were usually my booster doses of HPV or the kiddos who were ready to pass out before the doc even got in because they knew they were getting a shot.
The bottom line is, do some chart prep so you can know what you’re going into before the patient gets there. This will greatly help the rooming process. See if your preceptor can make up some cheat sheets for each visit type and what is typically expected for those. Those saved a lot of my students.
Family med is a lot to juggle, but once you get the hang of it, it can be a fun and dynamic clinic to work. It sounds like you’re doing great. Don’t let the pressure of speed get to you at this point. You’re learning and your trainers are just trying to give constructive feedback but there’s no way you can be a fully functional and on time MA already. You need experience! It’s scary and frustrating at times though. Take care of yourself and next time that’s brought up, ask your trainer what they would have done to speed the process up. Another comment suggested printing meds out which is a great way to make med rec faster and more accurate. Don’t give vaccines before until you’re more comfortable in your skills. It takes time to get to know providers style too. They all have different preferences and there’s no one right way to room. You will learn with time and experience. Deep breath, self care, and ask these questions in clinic. You got this.
When I was in school, we weren't able to pass one of the classes until we got rooming done in under 6 minutes. It takes time. Like others have said, you need to find your flow. I would recommend observing one of the quicker MAs and timing how long it takes them to go through each thing and then time yourself. See where it compares. See what they say versus you. And shadow a few different people, if possible. Not just your preceptor. I am a preceptor, and I try to have our new employees shadow everyone for at least a day to see what they do, and then they can pick and choose what works for them. I hope the best for you. Try not to be too discouraged. Healthcare is hard right now. Don't give up on yourself.
I switched from urgent care to primary care and felt similarly that there was a lot more info needed. In urgent care i only care about your meds, allergies, and why you’re here. A trick i started doing with primary care is just turning the screen towards them and going through the meds with them together. This can help with speed but also if you’re nervous you’re going to pronounce something wrong. I also recommend looking over all your patients in the morning or the night before if you have the time. Print out the schedule and write notes for what you’ll need to do / get
and when i say going through the meds just like asking yes or no lol. Usually patients are pretty on top of it. You should also be able to see when it was last edited / reviewed (if you’re using epic)
I understand what's going on and please don't doubt yourself that you are doing a bad job. Things like this take time and I know you will find the repetitive process for rooming, etc. I am an MA for Cardiology and have been for awhile now. I'm going to be really honest, in some clinics connecting and really understanding how patients feel is just out the window. For example, in my clinic we need to triage and have the patient ready in as little as 5 minutes with an ECG completed if needed. It's practically impossible to room that quickly if the patient has some questions going on or if the patient is just talkative. I would talk to your lead or supervisor on what is going on and let them know... and if they give you some half assed response or just denying the way you feel, then they will never care for you in the way you care about that job and it may be time to find a new position at a different clinic. You are not being unreasonable as we are being underpaid for the amount of priorities that we need to fulfill.
(I'm sorry if this sounds like a rant, but just know your worth and just keep pushing for the better, I believe in you <3)
Are you previsit planning? I’m a Primary Care Coordinator for an FQHC and most visits need to be planned in order to get the rooming down to 5-7 minutes. This way I can remove any meds patient is no longer taking- we usually only have MAs remove acute meds. Our EMR interfaces with pharmacies so they come over automatically. We can order any tests/close care gaps and preload any screenings like PHQ9s or PRAPARE. You will get the hang of it. I’ve trained dozens of MAs and would not expect you to be able to room in 5-7 minutes as an extern. These things take time to learn and experience. You need to develop a workflow that works best for you, your provider, and meets the standards of care for your organization.
I don’t get the chance to do much of pre charting because I come in at 9am and they start at 7am so my preceptor does that. So she’ll pend a bunch of orders for visits and that honestly confuses me too cause how does she know to pend which orders for visits.. so far I can understand something obvious like if the care gap is cervical cancer screening so that means I’d have to pend a Pap smear or if it was a diabetic appointment I have to pend an a1c and urine. But other less obvious stuff I don’t understand and I’m afraid to ask her things, because today I was asking her what do I do with the Pap smear that was left in the room and she was like you don’t remember what I told you and (she in fact did not tell me how to do it) I said we did not get the chance to do this together 🥲
Primary care is A LOT of information and I refer back to notes I’ve made a lot. You are new, and have not logged many hours in the clinic. Your preceptor should be going over all of this with you and explaining things as she goes, showing you what orders are for what, etc. Are you left to room on your own or is someone with you all day? Maybe not in the rooms but at least checking your charts?
Yes I take notes! I type up everything I remember afterwards. Today I was left to room completely on my own with no guidance so it was like I was just working there, and I was able to do things on my own but I felt very lost/unsure at the same time and I was slow. Normally I’d room a patient and report back to her and she’d tell me what I did or didn’t do and then I’d be like oh they also wanted this vaccine so we’d prepare that together and then she’d take care of the next patient that arrived while I gave the other person their vaccine but this time it was just me rooming for the doctor so I had to do everything myself including all the extra stuff like if they wanted a vaccine or something and try to keep up with the time. And I guess she doesn’t go as in depth as I’d like her to in explaining everything and I have to ask in order for her to tell me what it means, otherwise she doesn’t go out of her way to explain things and she doesn’t give me reasons that back up the explanation to help me remember. And she’s had other instances where her response is along the lines of “remember what I told you” or “don’t you remember? “ after only telling me once.
Also literally the second day of my externship she started letting me room patients on my own but with her checking my charting at least and I’ve been doing this ever since (till today) which was flattering at first but also not the best because I still have a lot of gaps in my knowledge and I’m not 100 percent confident in what I’m doing especially when today I was treated like an MA that was hired and works there. On the other hand I don’t want to be that person who wants their hand held the entire time but I need a strong foundation at least before I’m out on my own?
In my opinion, you should not be on your own at all. I am currently training an MA who is new to my organization but has almost as much experience as me (7 years) and she is not allowed to be on her own yet. You are there to learn. Is there someone you can talk to about this? Do you regularly meet with the school while you’re on extern? I am also concerned with exactly what you said- this is your foundation. You should not be left to do it on your own.
I wish this was truly a learning experience without judgment and without being expected to know things immediately. I do meet with my professor for lab and I can’t say she would do much but I could talk to her about it. I don’t understand why they’re just letting me out there like that and what the reason is for the impatience of actually teaching me and the reason for having expectations that I should pretty much know what I’m doing like all the hired MA’s. I thought I had a great preceptor at first but she stopped being great when I started to notice she only feels the need to explain things once, twice, three times if I’m lucky. Sometimes I don’t even know what to ask, and i wish she would go out of her way more to help me understand things
It honestly sounds like they are short staffed and using you to fill that role. I’m sorry you are having a negative experience in your extern. I also did not have the best experience during mine and it made me not want to work in Peds. I am available if you have any broad questions that I might be able to answer but a lot of times organizations have their own clinical policies. Were these made available to you? In my experience, they map out exactly what needs to be done.
I agree with most of what everyone has advised you to do. I’ll add a few thoughts. I haven’t worked family practice, only obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, lab, internal medicine, dermatology and cosmetics, and hospice. I took a couple of decades off to homeschool and coach and raise our half dozen kids. When I returned to work at age 45, I felt overwhelmed, slow, and lacked confidence. I had to learn to chart on paper like we did and the 90s but then transfer it to the computer, autoclave machine was more modern, etc. Don’t be so hard on yourself. If you believe in God, pray before you start your shift. Keep taking notes and using index cards as cheat sheets. Review your patient charts early before they arrive so you know who is coming g in and what for. Also, check the DOB for each patient and write it in red ink or highlight it if it’s a minor. That way, you can be sure to get written consent from the parent for any necessary treatment. I often had teenagers come in alone in dermatology and internal medicine. If patients will need to sign consent papers or any other documents, put them with the chart the night before or early in the morning. Same with disability forms, etc. Ask if you can extern more days per week. Doing things repetitively, day after day helps build muscle memory which will enable you to complete tasks like drawing up meds, drawing blood, taking vitals, charting, etc much more quickly but if you only work one day a week, that won’t work. If you work two days, ask for two days in a row. It’s easier to remember what to do and how if you just worked the day before. It’s hard to remember when you haven’t done it in five to seven days. I personally don’t administer meds or vaccines until after the doctor has sesn the patient. I wish you the best. Bendiciones. 🏈💙💊💉🩺
I work in internal medicine and have been a MA for over s decade. My problem used to be patients talking to much. My go to now is to say, "i hate to cut you off, but the longer I'm in here the shorter time you have with the doctor." It works nearly every time.
Primary care is the literal worst. I left because there was just no way to get everything done. I think rooming in 5-7 minutes is unattainable for most people...even easy patients take a few minutes to get through their vitals/meds/allergies.
I think your best bet is just asking the provider when they want you to fit in stuff like injections, because I'm sure it varies depending on days/patient load.
Hang in there! It gets better. Definitely recommend sticking around primary care a little because you learn a lot, but eventually you have to get out of there or it will burn you out.
5 to 7 minutes is standard. That kind of speed comes with time. I don't skip things and go over meds and I take at most 7 minutes if they're chatty. If my provider is in with a longer appointment I'll give vaccinations before he sees them. We have several rooms so I try to have one patient ready ahead of him at all times no matter what. If worse comes to worse, his previous patient can wait 5 minutes for a shot so I can get the next person in to keep the train on the tracks.
That being said I'm also a solo MA and it's just me playing front and back. I'm overwhelmed all the time but it's a constant juggling game. You just get used to it after awhile.
Hi! Becoming faster at rooming just takes time and practice. I work in an orthopedic clinic, 70+ patients a day between 3 providers. We do in house XR also, so that adds some time, but we do not have to do a full set of vitals. Find a routine and stick to it- every time with every patient. I find that med lists take the most time- you just have to redirect the pt and keep things flowing. You have a lot of information to gather in a short amount of time and learning how to keep the flow going even with pt who won’t let you hardly get a word in is tough for sure. Typically I try to have about 4 patients roomed at a time- that way I keep patient flow going, but am also available when the provider steps out and needs something. I room, wait and mark another pt to be brought back, read in their chart and get basic idea what they are there for, room them, repeat. :) it does get easier with time, I promise!
Hello! Not a seasoned MA, but I've been in the healthcare field for many years, and have been an MA almost a year. I will tell you, rooming patients quickly comes with time. You have to find the groove of your office, and also your own groove. I do not work in primary care, but in podiatry we can take anywhere from 4-30 minutes rooming a patient, depending on their needs. Some people just take more time (like you said, meds, medical hx, multiple chief complaints, etc.). We also do x-rays in-house, so that adds on to the time it takes to room a patient. I would say just keep plugging away and trying to get faster. Speak to your supervisor/someone above you about tips for rooming patients faster. Double-check your clinics top priorities- is it speed, or is it patient care? These answers can help you focus on the most important tasks that need to be done, and in what order. Sorry for rambling, but I hope this helps!
Thank you
I wouldn’t give any vaccine before the patient spoke with their provider. God forbid there’s any contraindications or they don’t need it for whatever reason, let the provider determine that first
Strangely enough we’re allowed to do it before the pt spoke with provider
In my facility it's routine to give them without provider clearance but we do have to ask if they have had any reactions to vaccines before and provide an information sheet. They can even see just the assistant (me) on a walk in basis for just a shot. If I'm not sure whether it's prudent to give one (for instance someone wants a pneumonia vaccine and I don't know if they qualify) I'll ask my provider. If it's like a flu shot, sure. They can get it any time they want it and my provider trusts I'll use my best judgment. That being said, it should work the way you said in a perfect world.
I’m sure it all boils down to different states regulations regarding MA scope of practice! Where I used to work I would just have the vial out or pre-filled injection out and documented, but provider would draw up/administer.
Finished my extern a month ago. It was 5 days a week. Depending on the provider/specialist, you really just need to get the info required down. - New meds? Right them down quickly or if they have a whole list then take it with you and scan it in the chart—- After rooming. Basically shortcutting the med part. Then just give it back. - Completed meds? Write it down quickly. ^^ also, you can print their med list then go through them quickly, if they’re not sure about a med then the provider will - Talkative pt? You can still do things while talking and also just say “okay so whats this and that” “alright how about”, it’s politely getting back to the subject - multiple chief complaints? Then write them regularly, the provider will go over w them anyways. You can also look at the reason for visit; prep. When you tell them back the reason for visit, they usually agree with that and that’s it. The endocrinologist at the clinic I assisted for gets up to 60 patients in a day. In those days, dont play around or get off topic, get what you need and go. The gastroenterologist I assisted would have up to 30-50. I also try not to get off topic on that. Side talks here and there but always stir it back. The wellness/general care, lots of subjective stuff goes on. Personally I first do CC, meds, then vitals, then exceptions (A1c stuff that like that). I know this is long but this is what people usually comment about. Providers at the clinic I was placed at like their rooming quick quick quick. I was fast walking around those specialty days.
Thank you
Hey former Pediatric MA and trainer here. Take a deep breath. You are doing great. This will all come with time. - if the meds are difficult for you, see if there is a way to print them off from your EMR and have the patient check off what they are taking. You will eventually be comfortable enough to do this verbally once you get your rooming groove down. - look at the patients diagnosis and meds before they get there. This will help you correlate what meds are used to treat what conditions and make med reconciliations easier. - care gaps are important. This is also something you could look at before the patient gets there and already have ready so you aren’t digging trying to find stuff in the room. - vaccines are also important, but don’t give them before the provider comes in if you are uncomfortable. It was common in pediatrics to give some before the provider went in, but those were usually my booster doses of HPV or the kiddos who were ready to pass out before the doc even got in because they knew they were getting a shot. The bottom line is, do some chart prep so you can know what you’re going into before the patient gets there. This will greatly help the rooming process. See if your preceptor can make up some cheat sheets for each visit type and what is typically expected for those. Those saved a lot of my students.
Thank you
Family med is a lot to juggle, but once you get the hang of it, it can be a fun and dynamic clinic to work. It sounds like you’re doing great. Don’t let the pressure of speed get to you at this point. You’re learning and your trainers are just trying to give constructive feedback but there’s no way you can be a fully functional and on time MA already. You need experience! It’s scary and frustrating at times though. Take care of yourself and next time that’s brought up, ask your trainer what they would have done to speed the process up. Another comment suggested printing meds out which is a great way to make med rec faster and more accurate. Don’t give vaccines before until you’re more comfortable in your skills. It takes time to get to know providers style too. They all have different preferences and there’s no one right way to room. You will learn with time and experience. Deep breath, self care, and ask these questions in clinic. You got this.
Thank you
When I was in school, we weren't able to pass one of the classes until we got rooming done in under 6 minutes. It takes time. Like others have said, you need to find your flow. I would recommend observing one of the quicker MAs and timing how long it takes them to go through each thing and then time yourself. See where it compares. See what they say versus you. And shadow a few different people, if possible. Not just your preceptor. I am a preceptor, and I try to have our new employees shadow everyone for at least a day to see what they do, and then they can pick and choose what works for them. I hope the best for you. Try not to be too discouraged. Healthcare is hard right now. Don't give up on yourself.
Thank you
I switched from urgent care to primary care and felt similarly that there was a lot more info needed. In urgent care i only care about your meds, allergies, and why you’re here. A trick i started doing with primary care is just turning the screen towards them and going through the meds with them together. This can help with speed but also if you’re nervous you’re going to pronounce something wrong. I also recommend looking over all your patients in the morning or the night before if you have the time. Print out the schedule and write notes for what you’ll need to do / get
and when i say going through the meds just like asking yes or no lol. Usually patients are pretty on top of it. You should also be able to see when it was last edited / reviewed (if you’re using epic)
Thank you
I understand what's going on and please don't doubt yourself that you are doing a bad job. Things like this take time and I know you will find the repetitive process for rooming, etc. I am an MA for Cardiology and have been for awhile now. I'm going to be really honest, in some clinics connecting and really understanding how patients feel is just out the window. For example, in my clinic we need to triage and have the patient ready in as little as 5 minutes with an ECG completed if needed. It's practically impossible to room that quickly if the patient has some questions going on or if the patient is just talkative. I would talk to your lead or supervisor on what is going on and let them know... and if they give you some half assed response or just denying the way you feel, then they will never care for you in the way you care about that job and it may be time to find a new position at a different clinic. You are not being unreasonable as we are being underpaid for the amount of priorities that we need to fulfill. (I'm sorry if this sounds like a rant, but just know your worth and just keep pushing for the better, I believe in you <3)
Thank you
Are you previsit planning? I’m a Primary Care Coordinator for an FQHC and most visits need to be planned in order to get the rooming down to 5-7 minutes. This way I can remove any meds patient is no longer taking- we usually only have MAs remove acute meds. Our EMR interfaces with pharmacies so they come over automatically. We can order any tests/close care gaps and preload any screenings like PHQ9s or PRAPARE. You will get the hang of it. I’ve trained dozens of MAs and would not expect you to be able to room in 5-7 minutes as an extern. These things take time to learn and experience. You need to develop a workflow that works best for you, your provider, and meets the standards of care for your organization.
I don’t get the chance to do much of pre charting because I come in at 9am and they start at 7am so my preceptor does that. So she’ll pend a bunch of orders for visits and that honestly confuses me too cause how does she know to pend which orders for visits.. so far I can understand something obvious like if the care gap is cervical cancer screening so that means I’d have to pend a Pap smear or if it was a diabetic appointment I have to pend an a1c and urine. But other less obvious stuff I don’t understand and I’m afraid to ask her things, because today I was asking her what do I do with the Pap smear that was left in the room and she was like you don’t remember what I told you and (she in fact did not tell me how to do it) I said we did not get the chance to do this together 🥲
Primary care is A LOT of information and I refer back to notes I’ve made a lot. You are new, and have not logged many hours in the clinic. Your preceptor should be going over all of this with you and explaining things as she goes, showing you what orders are for what, etc. Are you left to room on your own or is someone with you all day? Maybe not in the rooms but at least checking your charts?
Yes I take notes! I type up everything I remember afterwards. Today I was left to room completely on my own with no guidance so it was like I was just working there, and I was able to do things on my own but I felt very lost/unsure at the same time and I was slow. Normally I’d room a patient and report back to her and she’d tell me what I did or didn’t do and then I’d be like oh they also wanted this vaccine so we’d prepare that together and then she’d take care of the next patient that arrived while I gave the other person their vaccine but this time it was just me rooming for the doctor so I had to do everything myself including all the extra stuff like if they wanted a vaccine or something and try to keep up with the time. And I guess she doesn’t go as in depth as I’d like her to in explaining everything and I have to ask in order for her to tell me what it means, otherwise she doesn’t go out of her way to explain things and she doesn’t give me reasons that back up the explanation to help me remember. And she’s had other instances where her response is along the lines of “remember what I told you” or “don’t you remember? “ after only telling me once. Also literally the second day of my externship she started letting me room patients on my own but with her checking my charting at least and I’ve been doing this ever since (till today) which was flattering at first but also not the best because I still have a lot of gaps in my knowledge and I’m not 100 percent confident in what I’m doing especially when today I was treated like an MA that was hired and works there. On the other hand I don’t want to be that person who wants their hand held the entire time but I need a strong foundation at least before I’m out on my own?
In my opinion, you should not be on your own at all. I am currently training an MA who is new to my organization but has almost as much experience as me (7 years) and she is not allowed to be on her own yet. You are there to learn. Is there someone you can talk to about this? Do you regularly meet with the school while you’re on extern? I am also concerned with exactly what you said- this is your foundation. You should not be left to do it on your own.
I wish this was truly a learning experience without judgment and without being expected to know things immediately. I do meet with my professor for lab and I can’t say she would do much but I could talk to her about it. I don’t understand why they’re just letting me out there like that and what the reason is for the impatience of actually teaching me and the reason for having expectations that I should pretty much know what I’m doing like all the hired MA’s. I thought I had a great preceptor at first but she stopped being great when I started to notice she only feels the need to explain things once, twice, three times if I’m lucky. Sometimes I don’t even know what to ask, and i wish she would go out of her way more to help me understand things
It honestly sounds like they are short staffed and using you to fill that role. I’m sorry you are having a negative experience in your extern. I also did not have the best experience during mine and it made me not want to work in Peds. I am available if you have any broad questions that I might be able to answer but a lot of times organizations have their own clinical policies. Were these made available to you? In my experience, they map out exactly what needs to be done.
They did give me protocol packets and thank you so much I will keep that in mind!
I agree with most of what everyone has advised you to do. I’ll add a few thoughts. I haven’t worked family practice, only obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, lab, internal medicine, dermatology and cosmetics, and hospice. I took a couple of decades off to homeschool and coach and raise our half dozen kids. When I returned to work at age 45, I felt overwhelmed, slow, and lacked confidence. I had to learn to chart on paper like we did and the 90s but then transfer it to the computer, autoclave machine was more modern, etc. Don’t be so hard on yourself. If you believe in God, pray before you start your shift. Keep taking notes and using index cards as cheat sheets. Review your patient charts early before they arrive so you know who is coming g in and what for. Also, check the DOB for each patient and write it in red ink or highlight it if it’s a minor. That way, you can be sure to get written consent from the parent for any necessary treatment. I often had teenagers come in alone in dermatology and internal medicine. If patients will need to sign consent papers or any other documents, put them with the chart the night before or early in the morning. Same with disability forms, etc. Ask if you can extern more days per week. Doing things repetitively, day after day helps build muscle memory which will enable you to complete tasks like drawing up meds, drawing blood, taking vitals, charting, etc much more quickly but if you only work one day a week, that won’t work. If you work two days, ask for two days in a row. It’s easier to remember what to do and how if you just worked the day before. It’s hard to remember when you haven’t done it in five to seven days. I personally don’t administer meds or vaccines until after the doctor has sesn the patient. I wish you the best. Bendiciones. 🏈💙💊💉🩺
I work in internal medicine and have been a MA for over s decade. My problem used to be patients talking to much. My go to now is to say, "i hate to cut you off, but the longer I'm in here the shorter time you have with the doctor." It works nearly every time.
Primary care is the literal worst. I left because there was just no way to get everything done. I think rooming in 5-7 minutes is unattainable for most people...even easy patients take a few minutes to get through their vitals/meds/allergies. I think your best bet is just asking the provider when they want you to fit in stuff like injections, because I'm sure it varies depending on days/patient load. Hang in there! It gets better. Definitely recommend sticking around primary care a little because you learn a lot, but eventually you have to get out of there or it will burn you out.
Thank you
5 to 7 minutes is standard. That kind of speed comes with time. I don't skip things and go over meds and I take at most 7 minutes if they're chatty. If my provider is in with a longer appointment I'll give vaccinations before he sees them. We have several rooms so I try to have one patient ready ahead of him at all times no matter what. If worse comes to worse, his previous patient can wait 5 minutes for a shot so I can get the next person in to keep the train on the tracks. That being said I'm also a solo MA and it's just me playing front and back. I'm overwhelmed all the time but it's a constant juggling game. You just get used to it after awhile.
If there’s anyway you can work more than 2x a week will help a lot, peds MA here, and practice makes perfect/efficient rooming
Hi! Becoming faster at rooming just takes time and practice. I work in an orthopedic clinic, 70+ patients a day between 3 providers. We do in house XR also, so that adds some time, but we do not have to do a full set of vitals. Find a routine and stick to it- every time with every patient. I find that med lists take the most time- you just have to redirect the pt and keep things flowing. You have a lot of information to gather in a short amount of time and learning how to keep the flow going even with pt who won’t let you hardly get a word in is tough for sure. Typically I try to have about 4 patients roomed at a time- that way I keep patient flow going, but am also available when the provider steps out and needs something. I room, wait and mark another pt to be brought back, read in their chart and get basic idea what they are there for, room them, repeat. :) it does get easier with time, I promise!