Medical assistants are professional multi-taskers. Their hands, eyes and ears are always moving in different directions. It's a skill refined by necessity and mastered through experience. An art and a science, it's a valuable competency as any you'll learn in school.

What Is Multi-tasking?

Multitasking is the ability to do more than one thing at a time without dropping the ball. We do it every day. We drive and listening to our favorite tunes, cook dinner while helping the kids with their homework and sort through e-mails while watching a movie.

It's an easy way to save time by combining rote tasks, activities performed so often that they no longer require our full intellectual effort because we know what to expect. If you've ever gotten to work and don't remember the drive, you've done a rote task.

Medical assistants do the same on the job. Once they've established a routine, they can answer the phone while sorting lab reports, mentor a new employee while restocking exam rooms and get a patient's vital signs while they ask them screening questions about their health, all without breaking a sweat. It's the same type of multi-tasking that most people do when they're experienced at a job.

But for medical assistants, it goes a step further. Healthcare is unpredictable, and it's their job to respond to events as they change. If a patient comes in for a routine exam, but findings suggest they need lab work or a referral to see a specialist, less important tasks must be set aside in favor of priorities.

What Are Multitasking Skills?

The problem with multitasking, however, is that our brains can't maintain full focus on more than one thing at a time. What we really do is switch focus quickly between activities. If the tasks are too complicated, one or more outcomes will suffer. Walking and chewing gum, listening to music while you exercise and reading while you soak in the bathtub are low-risk ways to multitask, performing brain surgery while trying to balance your checkbook isn't.

With so much to do in a day, how can medical assistants multitask effectively while giving the most important parts of their jobs the attention they deserve? These skills help.

Skill #1: Prioritization

Prioritization is how we organize responsibilities in order of importance. It's like phone triage but with tasks instead of people. It's how a medical assistant knows they should check on a sick patient before placing a supply order.

Prioritization doesn't always follow the same pattern, being flexible makes multitasking easier.

Some days, you may face a list of non-urgent tasks, choosing to prioritize simple jobs first while saving a block of time to tackle complex projects. On other days, you may need to get time-sensitive items done first while leaving non-critical tasks for later in the day.

Emergencies in medicine are common and the ability to switch focus on a dime without losing track of the big picture is an important skill. No matter how you choose to prioritize, it remains the most effective way to stay ahead of your most important responsibilities. With experience, you'll learn what can and can't wait.

Skill #2: Planning

Planning ahead helps medical assistants better manage their time. Being aware of deadlines lets you schedule tasks in an organized and manageable way. You won't always complete your to-do list as planned, but you'll know you were productive and addressed the most important things first. The following day, you can roll outstanding tasks into your schedule.

Skill #3: Organization

Multitasking is less stressful when you're well-organized. A tidy workspace where you have the supplies and documents you need lets you wrap up minor issues with less effort.

Organization doesn't come easily to some people, it takes practice. But the good news is that modern tools can help keep you on track. Most doctor's offices use practice management software that organizes your workflow, highlighting tasks in priority order. You'll get more done by letting technology do some of the work.

Skill #4: Delegation

Delegation is offloading lighter tasks in favor of priorities. Doctors and nurses delegate lesser clinical duties to medical assistants, so they can spend more time with their patients. Medical assistants can do the same, asking a team member with time on their hands to follow up on tasks while you manage emergencies is a good way to be more productive without spreading yourself too thin. The best multitaskers don't bite off more than they can chew.

Skill #5: Concentration

Distractions make it challenging to concentrate on more than one task. Each time you lose focus, it can take up to 30 minutes to regain it. Intrusions can be unavoidable, but it helps to take reasonable precautions to safeguard your time, such as closing doors to block out noise, turning off your cell phone and drawing the shades. Create a relaxing atmosphere and a distraction-free environment whenever possible.

Is Multitasking Good or Bad?

Multitasking has gone from a must-have skill to an approach shunned by workplace efficiency experts. Research shows it can compromise an employee's focus, making them less effective at each task. Extreme multitaskers are bad at filtering out irrelevant information. Their memory is often impaired, and they struggle with creativity. Psychologists believe it's a losing proposition.

But there's a difference between multitasking and "overtasking," trying to do more than you can reasonably accomplish. In a medical setting, overtasking benefits neither patients nor staff, yet some responsibilities simply can't be separated. They overlap too much, and to have them done by different individuals would compromise health outcomes.

How Does a Medical Assistant Multitask?

Seasoned medical assistants multitask without missing a beat. How do they do it? Let's look at some real-life examples.

Triaging Phone Calls

Taking phone calls from worried patients is part of what medical assistants do. As a medical assistant, you collect information for physicians, separating relevant from irrelevant details. During calls, you enter data as the patient speaks to avoid missing details. With the chart at your fingertips, you can also research your history for other data the doctor may need. For example, looking up a patient's vaccination status and medication allergies, if they're complaining about flu symptoms.

The more information you collect while you still have the patient on the phone, the easier it will be for the provider to make treatment decisions. It's more efficient than having a non-clinical team member take a message, only for the medical assistant to have to return their call.

Managing the Schedule

Managing the schedule in a multi-physician practice is the ultimate multitasking. Before filling in an open slot, medical assistants must know which providers are available, guessing at what resources may be required for the visit. A patient complaining about an irregular heartbeat, for example, may need an EKG. You coordinate with other clinical staff to ensure that the right equipment and trained personnel are available.

Rooming Patients

As a medical assistant, you are among the first to greet patients, escorting patients to an exam room for their visit. While you are on your way is the perfect time to collect health information through observation and by asking questions. By the time you arrive, symptoms like shortness of breath and difficulty walking may be evident. As the doctor's eyes and ears, you must be ever vigilant, a type of mental multitasking.

Taking Vital Signs

While taking vital signs is an opportune time to ask about related topics. Is the patient taking their blood pressure at home? What are the readings? Are they following their prescribed diet? Asking about physical symptoms is also appropriate. Any information you can collect in advance of the exam saves the doctor time.

While you're in the exam room, check supplies when you open cabinet doors. Are you low on thermometer probes or sanitizing wipes? Make a list as you go, and you'll be ready to restock rooms at the end of the day without making separate trips.

Reviewing Health History

At the start of each visit, you review patients' medication and allergy lists. It's surprising how many consequences this can have. A new allergic reaction may result in treatment changes. For example, sensitivity to some substances may be a contraindication to certain drugs, including vaccines.

It can be a Pandora's box that requires significant follow-through. It's your job to alert the physician to anything critical that may have changed and to ensure that changes are noted in the medical record.

Assisting with Surgical Procedures

Many private practices now perform minor procedures in their offices. When asked to assist with a biopsy, for example, you can expect to prepare equipment, pass instruments, and collect biological samples.

But it's not uncommon for something to change. Patients may need emotional support. And procedures can reveal the unexpected, prompting additional treatments and changes to aftercare. You need to be flexible and willing to multitask to ensure the patient has a good experience, and the schedule continues to run smoothly.

Emergencies

Emergencies large and small are ever-present in healthcare. You may have done your best to prioritize your workflow, so you would have a few quiet hours to reorganize a messy stockroom, only to have a team member go home ill and have to take over their responsibilities.

A light schedule can turn into a nightmare as the waiting room fills with flu patients. And you may be pulled out of the lab to assist with an unexpected treatment. Meanwhile, the computer goes down and you're reduced to sorting through bulky paper charts for information.

The trick to effective multitasking is to start your day with a clean slate, reassess your priorities and reorganize your workflow whenever it goes awry. You'll stay productive, relaxed and your patients will thank you for it.

Final Thoughts

Whether multitasking is a friend or foe, it's part of a medical assistant's job. There's no avoiding it, only managing it so that it doesn't turn into overwork, know what you can do in a day and set boundaries. Medical offices are fast paced but the quality of your work is as important as the quantity.

Ready to put your multi-tasking skills to the test as a medical assistant? Meridian College offers hands–on Medical Assistant training from experienced school faculty who know how to prepare you for the daily challenges you'll face on the job. From assisting doctors with patients to important administrative tasks, our experienced Medical Assistant program teachers will train you for a rewarding new career.

In addition to receiving training from school instructors with real-world experience, you will also complete a school externship in a physician's office, clinic, or related healthcare facility under the supervision of a physician, nurse, or health services professional to further develop your skills.

Contact Meridian College today to learn more about becoming a medical assistant.