MA – Manisha S.

Hello everyone, my name is Manisha Sharma: UCSD Alumni, former PPASO board member, and an aspiring physician assistant (PA). Currently, I am working as a full-time, back office medical assistant in gynecology, dealing with reproductive health and sexual health services. This job has allowed me to get a whole lot of patient care experience! I was fortunate enough to get this job. Most medical assistant jobs require medical assisting certification. However, my job stated I either needed an MA certification or a bachelors degree. Luckily, I had completed my schooling and had obtained my bachelors degree at the time of applying for this job. Once hired, I took part in a 6-week intense, on-the-job training. I was able to gain skills such as documenting patient’s chief complaints, learning how to use EHR, performing antecubital venipuncture, and deltoid/ventrogluteal injections.

How Did You Find The Job?

I found my job through luck and networking! My friend encouraged that I apply to the job posting directly through the organization’s website, which I did. At that time, I was applying to many different medically-related jobs where I could gain patient care experience. Most of the jobs I was looking at were back office medical assisting or physical therapy aide, those that did not require specific certifications. I wanted to find a job where they would be able to train me on the job. The reason for this was because I wanted to save both time and money. I figured it would be better to find a job that wanted to train recent graduates who were eager to get the job done! After answering a series of questions through their website and submitting my resume, I received an email regarding an interview about a month later.

What Was The Interview Process Like?

Now the interview process I had encountered had a total of 3 phases! I thought this was super interesting and great practice for PA school interviews. The first part was a phone screening asking me questions regarding my qualifications, what I knew about the company, why I wanted to work for them, and scenario-based questions. After passing the first part of the interview process, I was invited for a group interview a week later. The group interview consisted of a panel of interviewers and several medical assistant candidates. All the candidates would take turns answering the questions, most of which were scenario-based. Fortunately, I made it past the second phase of the interview and was invited to meet my potential manager for the last phase of the interview! At this point, the manager basically wanted to gauge your personality and determine if you would be a good fit for the office. Once this portion was over, I was hired and completed the required paperwork and started my 6 weeks of training!

What Experiences Did You Have Prior To Applying For The Job?

Prior to applying to this job, I had various experiences. I did not have any medical assisting experience but I used that to my advantage during my interviews. I stated to my interviewer that since I did not have prior MA experience, I am at a very moldable stage and will be willing to learn their ways only. Some of my other experiences included volunteering at clinic trips, interning at Palomar health, volunteering in a hospital, and other PPASO volunteering events (i.e. making breakfast for the families at the Bannister house, making sandwiches for the homeless community in San Diego, and helping out at the SD food bank).

What Do You Do?

As a back office medical assistant, I get a lot of patient care experience. Some tasks include obtaining patient medical history, providing patients with health education, performing lab work, sending out lab specimens, logging lab results, taking vitals, sterilizing medical equipment, replenishing lab supplies, assisting clinicians as needed, utilizing EHR to input patient data, scribing with clinicians, maintaining communication with all staff (front office, back office, and providers), etc…

What Do You Like/Dislike About The Job?

Pros: I love being able to collaborate with the entire staff (i.e. PA/NP/Doctors, front office staff, and back office medical assistants). I can see how critical each role is to ensuring the clinic’s efficiency and being able to provide patients with the best possible care. I love the amount of patient interaction and hands on experience I get. Each day, I get to learn something new, meet new people, improve my skills, and educate patients on how to take their prescribed medications and on other healthcare topics. At the end of the day, I am happy to work as a team with my colleagues and have patients leave with a smile on their face because they received the care they needed.

Cons: I dislike how at times, we may have to turn away patients who lost their health insurance, cannot afford to pay for the services they need, and do not qualify for low-income, state-funded programs to cover their services. This is not necessarily related to the specific job role itself, but more particularly our healthcare system. But overall, we do our best to work with patients or refer them to resources where they can get the services they need or help alleviate some of the costs by setting up payment plans for patients that way they won’t have to pay a large sum all at once.

Well, that wraps up my spiel, thanks for reading thus far! I hope this was insightful and encourages you not to hesitate to apply as a back office medical assistant. I love my job and I think it’s great for PA school preparation! If any of you have any questions or concerns at all, please feel free to contact me. My email is msharma@ucsd.edu.