It will be a great feeling when after taking your exam you gain your important medical assistant certification. However let’s step back a bit first and delve into the personal qualities you actually need to be a success in your job as a certified medical assistant.
Technical abilities are vital and this you will gain via your training school, but there is a lot more to just being well trained. Possessing certain character traits are just as important when it comes to performing your tasks and duties.
Being able to coordinate and efficiently organize in an office and/or clinical environment are important, as well as being reliable, dependable and thorough. For instance being dependable means co-workers can rely on you to be professional in all aspects of the medical assistant’s job and being reliable.
Working on your own initiative is another trait to have. Observation of situations and work that needs to be completed and then action this work, without being told what to do, is important in the role of a certified medical assistant.
Having large amounts of patience and tolerance is important as you are dealing with people who need help, however some patients can be difficult and nothing seems to please them, therefore you may feel you are not appreciated at times, even if you are trying everything to help. Great patience and tolerance is required no matter what the situation.
Warmth, compassion and empathy are 3 more very important traits and these traits need to come naturally from within as feelings cannot really be taught in school. Even when you take your medical assistant certification exam any feelings you have which is relevant to medical assisting can only be explained on paper.
In the real world patients normally feel quite vulnerable and anxious when entering medical premises. Therefore, communicating with a medical assistant who understands and considers their feelings and helps to put them at ease, in conjunction with a warm caring smile, does wonders and all apprehensions disappear.
A sense of humor is another important trait as this can put the patient immediately at ease. You can then communicate honestly and openly, and together with showing genuine interest this can result in a positive situation, which can only instill more trust in you.
Remember, gaining your medical assistant certification is important, however the personal qualities required above will ensure you will have a successful and satisfying career.