Scope of Practice

Scope of Practice according to the free dictionary is the range of responsibility of patients or caseload and practice guidelines that determine the boundaries within which a physician, or other professional, practices. The basic is that these guidelines tell that particular practitioner how far they can go when it comes to medical care and treatment. According to the law in all states, a Medical Assistant must have the supervising doctor, or a licensed practitioner, present, on the floor or in the building before a MA can provide any type of direct care/procedures to a patient (2011). MA is allowed to do whatever they were hired to do. Doctors and nurses often times don’t know how to use their MAs, they main responsibilities are in their job description when they were hired. Each office that an MA may work in could have some different procedures to do. Your job as an MA maybe to administer immunizations for injections, or to file all medical charts when they are completed, whatever your job is, it should be clearly spelled out for you. They must also outline what a MA can not do, such as making any independent medical assessment, triage patients, dispense medication or samples without direct orders, and giving out your own personal medical advice (2011). The employer who usually is the doctor assumes responsibility of the MA and they have to determine each MA’s scope of practice, by determining their skill levels. Most states don’t have laws that specifically address the responsibilities and duties of a Medical Assistant. This doesn’t say that no rules apply to them but since they are an extension of the do0)ctor then they are more than likely to follow the laws of the State Medical Board.