Course title

Pre-requisite

Course description

Medical Assistant (MC 20)
The medical assistant is educated and trained to perform administrative and clinical skills in a variety of settings including doctors' offices; hospitals and clinics. Learn medical terminology; body systems; optometry; EKG; phlebotomy; autoclave; CPR and first aid; OSHA safety standards; and other medical specialties. Gain an understanding of office procedures such as patient billing; medical records; purchasing supplies and filing insurance claims.

Program Overview: Medical assistants work alongside physicians; mainly in medical offices and clinics. They are cross-trained to perform administrative and clinical duties. In this first half of the Medical Assistant Program; the student will learn medical terminology; anatomy and physiology; which includes the study of diseases and disorders and CPR. The student will also learn about clinical skills used in the back office. Clinical skills we practice include vital signs; EKG; urinalysis; injections; and phlebotomy with finger sticks; glucose testing and blood draws. All of this along with the administrative skills learned in 2nd year will be practiced in a clinical setting to prepare the student for their 165 hour extern training with provider offices in their 2nd year course. The extern is not a right but a privilege earned by the student proving to the instructors that the professionalism and maturity are at a required level determined by the instructor.

Student Textbook/Software:
Medical Assisting Administrative & Clinical Competencies and Workbook by Blesi.Wise.Kelley-Arney
Kareo.com EHR program

Course Outline/Syllabus
Semester One
Week 1 Introductions / Team building
Week 2 Ch 2 Health Care Team & Medical Environment; Past & Present
Ch 1 The Medical Assistant
Ch 3 Intro to Medical Terminology
Ch 4 Understanding & Building Medical Terms of Body Systems
Ch 36 Infection Control & Medical Asepsis
Lab - Hand washing; Autoclave; Sterile Gloving
Week 3 Ch 38 Body Measurements & Vital Signs
Lab - Temp.; Pulse; Respiratory Rate; BP; Height & Weight
Ch 39 Preparing for examinations
Lab - Positioning Patient
Week 4 Ch 23 Anatomic Descriptors & Fundamental Body Structure
Lab – A slice of life (anatomical directions)
Week 5 Ch 24 Nervous System
Lab – Testing for reflexes
Week 6 Ch 25 Senses
Lab – Taste; smell; hearing; a lab about you
Week 7 Ch 26 Integumentary System
Lab – Up close and personal; a look at hair and skin
Week 8 Ch 27 Skeletal System
Lab – Build a body; assembling a new skeleton friend
Week 9 Ch 28 Muscular System
Lab – Use your muscles; building a whole body exercise routine
Week 10 Ch 29 Respiratory System
Lab – Full of hot air; measuring your lung capacity
Week 11 Ch 30 Circulatory System
Lab – To rest or not to rest; an exercise in heart rate
Week 12 Ch 31 Immune System
Lab – A review of sterilization and disease
Week 13 Ch 32 Digestive System
Lab – Follow it through; an audio/visual analysis of the digestive system
Week 14 Ch 33 Urinary System
Lab – Analysis of Urinalysis – A record keeping of weekly fluid output
Week 15 Ch 55 Emergencies in the Medical Office
Lab - CPR/Thanksgiving
Week 16 Ch 34 Endocrine System
Lab – Adrenalize; How Excited Are You
Week 17 Ch 35 Reproductive System
Lab – Caring for Baby; an Eggcellent activity
Week 18 Semester Review; Skills Check off; Project Due

Semester 2
Week 19 Review of fall semester
Week 20 Ch 47 Cardiology Procedures
Lab – Performing an EKG
Week 21 Ch 43 Blood Collection Procedures
Lab - Blood Draw (Butterfly and Vacutainer)
Week 22 Ch 44 The Physician’s Office Laboratory
Week 23 Ch 45 Diagnostic Testing
Lab - Finger stick for Glucose
Week 24 Ch 46 Specimen Collection & Processing
Lab - Throat Culture; UA; Blood Glucose
Week 25 Ch 40 Physical Exams; Specialty Exams; and Procedures
Lab - Eye exam; Ear lavash; Spirometry
Week 26 Ch 41 OB/GYN Examinations
Week 27 Ch 42 Pediatric Examination
Lab - Growth Chart
Week 28 Ch 52 Measurement Systems; Basic Mathematics; and Dosage Calculations
Week 29 Ch 53 Administering Oral & Non-Injectable Medications
Lab - Eye drops; ear drops
Week 30 Ch 54 Administering Injections and Immunizations
Lab - Intradermal; Intermuscular; Subcutaneous Injections
Week 31 Ch 48 Radiology Procedures
Week 32 Ch 49 Preparing for Surgery
Lab - Setting up Sterile Tray; Opening packages; Handwashing; Sterile Gloving; Preparing skin for surgery
Week 33 Ch 50 Assisting with Minor Surgery
Lab - Suture and staple removal
Week 34 Ch 56 First Aid for Accidents & Injuries
Lab - Spiral bandage; figure-eight bandage; cravat bandage; cleaning a wound
Week 35 Ch 57 Rehabilitation
Lab - Using a cane & walker
Ch 58 Nutrition; Exercise; and Healthy Living
Week 36 Final Project; Final Review; Skills Check off; Project Due
Final Final Exam

Units of Instruction / Competencies 1st semester:
Healthcare Roles and Responsibilities
Medical Terminology
Anatomy and Physiology
Rehabilitation and Healthy Living
CPR Certification and First Aid/Responding to Emergencies
Preparing for Examinations
Preparing for Clinical Procedures

Units of Instruction/Competencies 2nd semester:
Preparing for Clinical Procedures
Assisting with Examinations and Specialty Examinations
Laboratory Procedures and Diagnostic Testing
Cardiology and Radiology Procedures
Medication Administration Procedures
Assisting with Minor Surgical Procedures

Academic Skills Attained:
Language: Medical terminology; Anatomy & Physiology also helps to improve your overall English language skills.
Reading: Frequent reading assignments target improved reading comprehension.
Math: You will read; record and interpret graphs and charts. Basic math skills in addition; subtraction; multiplication; division; metric system; basic algebraic equations; are utilized in real-life health situations.
Communication Skills: You will gain skills and practice oral; non-verbal; and written communication skills.
Employability skills: You will learn basic communication and documentation skills along with workplace ethics. These include; being on time and on task; dressing appropriately; willingness to learn; comply with expectations and what is asked of you with respectful teamwork. Realizing your potential and taking responsibility for your actions while building a new skill set.

(Sample Lab) Phlebotomy and Blood Samples Lab

What is Phlebotomy?
The surgical opening or puncture of a vein in order to withdraw blood

Introduction with Patient
First must introduce yourself and ID your pt. (full name & DOB)
Provide pt with pt education. It’s important that our pt knows what procedure we’re performing. If the pt has never had procedure performed it is essential to walk pt through the steps beforehand. Reassure pt that minimal amount of blood will be drawn for the required testing. (3 tubes = 6 teaspoons of blood; less than 1% of total blood volume)
Check that pt has followed any prior instructions given. For example a blood test may have required pt too fast. In this case ask pt if they’ve had anything to eat or drink during the restricted fasting time.

Assemble Your Equipment
Gloves (check pt for latex allergy)
Alcohol Prep Pad
Gauze Pad or Cotton Ball
Bandage
Tourniquet
Needle
Vacutainer
Blood Collection Tubes
Sharps Container
Biohazard Bag

Assemble needle; vacutainer and first collection tube. Remaining tubes should be in order of draw. All items should be placed next to the pt in a fashion that will allow your non dominant hand to reach all items needed without hand crossover.

Order of Draw
What is the order of draw; and why is this important?
There is a specific order in which we will draw blood for testing. Color coded tube tops help us in this area.

• Yellow Tops (SPS (sodium polyanethole sulfate) * Culture for microorganisms)
• Blue Tops (Sodium Citrate *Coagulation)
• Red Tops (No Additive)
• Green Tops (Heparin *Chemistry tests for plasma; for whole blood; & chemistry STAT tests)
• Lavender Tops (EDTA *Hematology; blood banking; CBC; prevents coagulation)
• Grey Tops (Potassium Oxalate *Blood glucose levels)

The Most Common Tubes
Blue *Coagulation
Lavender *Complete Blood Count (CBC)
Red *Serum glucose; electrolytes; blood urea nitrogen

A specific order of draw is used to avoid contamination and inaccurate results. It is essential to commit to memory the order of draw so as to retain accurate results. Otherwise testing will need to be redone. This is generally an inconvenience to pt.

Prep Yourself & Pt for Procedure
After pt has been properly educated on procedure; now it is time for the physical prep.
• Wash Hands (preferably in front of pt if possible)
• Put on tourniquet to allow for location of vein to be found through palpation for venipuncture site Vein will be located on antecubital part of arm. (spongy feeling)
• Remove tourniquet (tourniquet in place for no longer than 1 minute intervals; otherwise may interfere with testing)
• Clean area with alcohol prep pad in a circular motion starting from center working out in a spiral motion
• Assemble needle; vacutainer; blood collection tubes; place them aside
• Put on gloves
• Reapply tourniquet

Venipuncture Steps
• Visually relocate vein
• Spread skin tot to avoid rolling of vein
• Verbally inform pt “little stick”
• Insert needle bevel up (15-30 degree angle) just enough to cover bevel
• Collection tube sitting inside vacutainer should now be inserted
• Remove tourniquet (tourniquet should be removed before removing collection tube to avoid continuous blood flow)
• Remove collection tube & insert following tube if ordered.
• Remove needle in a smooth motion with cotton ball or gauze available in other hand to place over puncture site (ask pt to hold cotton ball/gauze)
• Dispose of needle in sharps container (never recap needle; the #1 cause for dirty needle sticks)
• Place bandage over gauze or cotton ball
• Remove gloves & place in biohazard container

Now What?
Different tests may require different follow-up steps along with collection.
Examples of this may be:
• Inversion = this is this done by holding blood collection tube with top facing up & turning it downward bottom up & then top facing back up. This is one inversion. Different tests require different amounts of inversion
• Centrifuge = a machine that rapidly rotates container so as to separate contents. Particularly cells from plasma.
• Placing additives = some tests may require placing additives
• Refrigeration

Next; label tube; insert date/time; and provide signature on all collection tubes before storing

Keep In Mind
Always check pt medication list before procedure. Certain medications may affect the lab results. Also note that some medications can still affect lab results days after termination.

Latex allergies are quite common and should always be determined before procedure.

In the event that a pt has had a mastectomy; blood draw will be done on other arm. When pt has a mastectomy lymph nodes are most often removed as well. Lymph nodes play an important role in fighting off infection. Phlebotomy procedures require puncturing the skin creating an opening; in the event that lymph nodes are not present may allow for a slight infection to occur. In the event that pt has had double mastectomy blood draw may be done from other location such as backside of hand or top of foot.

Be Confident & Practice; Practice; Practice
Venipuncture is one of the more difficult procedures to perform. Essentially practice is the only way to improve this skill & conquer any fears. Remember that your pt is probably more nervous than you are; and can read your facial expression; so display confidence and you do great!

Laboratory Review Questions (Write your answers below)
1. Explain your emotions about performing a venipuncture.
2. What is the purpose of proper tourniquet placement?
3. What is the order of draw; and why is this important?
4. Did you experience any difficulty performing the venipuncture?
5. Give 3 reasons why it is vital that you practice proper safety techniques.
6. Why do the vials have different colored tops?
7. How did this activity affect your thinking about phlebotomy as a career?

School Country

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Requested competency code

Date submitted

Approved

Approved competency code

• LBIO
• Biology

Approved date

Online / Virtual