This blog post is a writing assignment for MAST 1060: Medical Office Procedures, part of the Health Care Management (HC23) Associate of Applied Science Degree program at Southern Crescent Technical College.

“Scenario: A 93-year-old man comes into the office with his daughter. She says he has urinary frequency. He seems a little confused and the daughter keeps trying to manipulate the conversation when the administrative medical assistant is attempting to talk to him. Role-play the communication between the administrative medical assistant, the older adult, and the daughter” (French, 2019, Job Skill 4-4).

This scenario requires three people: an elderly patient, his daughter, and a medical assistant. Bobby, an older man, came to the office with his daughter, Beverly. The medical assistant, Amy, calls them, greets them with a warm, friendly smile, and escorts them to the exam room.

Amy moves her chair directly in front of Bobby. She looks at him, smiles, and addresses him directly. Amy begins to gather information about his condition. She talks to Bobby slowly, pronounces all her words clearly, and uses short, easy-to-understand sentences. She asks short questions and offers brief explanations.

From the beginning of the encounter, Beverly attempts to dominate the conversation by speaking for her father. Especially with such behavior, Amy might quickly jump to conclusions and prejudge Bobby as being senile. She recognizes the importance of refraining from prejudging him or fabricating excuses for any particular behavior or confusion, as her judgments and justifications could be incorrect or even offend him. Beverly has not informed her of any mental decline, such as Alzheimer’s, so Amy politely points out to Beverly that gathering information about Bobby’s symptoms directly from him is essential for the most accurate understanding of his condition.

Bobby explains that he experiences a burning sensation when urinating but has trouble recalling details like how long he has been experiencing this symptom. Amy remains patient while he pauses to take time to think. After a long pause, he says he started noticing the symptom yesterday morning before breakfast. Amy continues to ask more questions, and Bobby appears confused. She encourages Bobby to ask her questions or to repeat or explain anything he does not understand. He requests that Amy repeat her question. He has trouble hearing Amy and often asks her to repeat what she says. Amy patiently repeats her questions and explanations and sometimes rephrases what she said earlier to help him understand. Despite his confused appearance, Amy discovers Bobby understands the circumstances and is capable of communicating for himself. She thinks Bobby’s confusion is due to hearing impairment rather than the mental decline from a condition like Alzheimer’s.

Amy turns to Beverly and asks her if she has anything else that she wants to add. Beverly may have noticed and recalled another detail that Bobby forgot to share, and Amy wants her to feel included and important after her earlier exchange with her. Beverly repeats her early comment that her father needs to urinate frequently. Amy asks Bobby for verification, and he confirms. Amy could not understand his answer. She said, “I am sorry, but I could not quite hear your answer. Could you please repeat it?” He then repeats his confirmation, this time nodding his head also.

After the doctor examines Bobby, he diagnoses him with a UTI. Bobby says he could not hear everything the doctor said, so Amy slowly and clearly repeats the diagnosis for him using a low tone. She also goes over the medication and treatment for the UTI. Amy also provides written directions, so Bobby does not forget anything. Amy smiles again and tells him she hopes he feels better soon as they leave the office (French, 2019, 4-3c, Procedure 4-3, Job Skill 4-4).

References

French, L. L. (2018). Administrative Medical Assisting. (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

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