A pediatric medical assistant is a member of the medical field who works in a pediatrician’s office, a children’s hospital, or another setting where he assists with the medical care of children. Medical assistant licensing requirements differ depending on where the assistant works. In general, such assistants receive less training in medicine and medical care than nurses, and instead concentrate their education and responsibilities on office administration.
An associate’s degree, which is a two-year program, is most commonly obtained by a pediatric medical assistant. Other programs, a four-year bachelor’s degree in a related field, or experience working in a hospital setting may be used to obtain certification for the assistant. While medical assistants can work in any doctor’s office, those who specialize in pediatrics usually enjoy working with children and want to work in medical fields that treat them.
The responsibilities of a pediatric medical assistant vary by state. Duties are also delegated by the doctor based on the individual’s experience and delegation of duties and responsibilities. In general, the duties entail assisting in the administrative operations of the office as well as some patient interaction.
A pediatric medical assistant’s job entails making appointments for patients and reminding them of their appointments via phone calls and reminder cards. The assistant may also keep track of the doctor’s schedule. In most cases, he is also responsible for filing medical files and dealing with other administrative tasks such as contacting labs for test results, faxing forms to schools verifying vaccinations, and sending medical records to new physicians when a patient changes doctors.
While a pediatric medical assistant is not qualified to provide care, he can explain what will happen during an exam to children or their parents. He may assist in holding a child receiving a shot or in entertaining or comforting a child receiving medical treatment in a doctor’s office. He might also help with lab tests, prepare a patient for an exam by giving them a jar to collect a urine sample, weigh a patient before the exam, or do other similar prep work before the patient sees the doctor.