The health care profession is fundamental in any country. For the country to develop in other aspects healthcare is paramount because sick people cannot be productive. The need for qualified healthcare professionals is on the increase. More and more health facilities are in need of qualified personnel to fill in the vacant positions. The health care profession is wide and involves personnel trained to do different things. Medical assistants are also found in the profession. This paper will look at the role that a health care professional plays in the care of patients, safety issues, legal concerns, educational requirements, License requirements and continuing education requirements.
The role of a health care professional in giving care to a patient involves helping the patient who is need. The medical assistants perform clinical and administrative duties. Offering their service is noble as Remen put it “Helping, fixing, and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul” (1997).The health care giver has to offer his or her support to the patient in a caring manner. This is because the patient is not at their best and some may be very vulnerable. The caregiver is required to give the patient hope and make their stay in the hospital as easy as they can. They bring the patients medicine as well as reminding them to take their prescriptions. They also give them instructions about their medication and diets (Medical Assistants, 2009). They are also supposed to protect the patients, they change their dressings. They should lift them carefully so as not to hurt them especially for those who cannot walk when preparing them for medical examinations.
They give emotional support to patients with their communication skills. They listen to the patients talk about their fears as well as their concerns bout death. The health care professional lays the role of reassuring the patient of receiving the best care. The patients have many questions concerning their illness and pain and the health professionals help them when they listen to them because the patients treasure time spent with them (Puchalski, 2001).
The health professionals are supposed to be compassionate in their work. They should handle their patients as if they are their partners by walking with them through their pain rather than just being experts. Victor (1984) while in a Nazi concentration camp noted: “Man is not destroyed by suffering; he is destroyed by suffering without meaning.” This means that the health care professionals have to find a way of helping their patients to accept their situation and find meaning in their suffering (Puchalski, 2001).
The health professional have a role to play in helping the patients with spirituality. Spirituality has been found by many studies done to have profound effects on patients. This is because some spiritual practices have been shown to improve the health of the patients. For example meditation by patients led to decreased activities in the body thereby giving the body a relaxation which was very useful in anxiety, insomnia, depression and others treatment. By relaxing the level of stress in the patients is reduced and stress has been associated with deteriorating health thus by relaxing the patients reduce its effect. When the health professionals are familiar with the spirituality of their patients it helps them to make the patient understand their diseases. The patients’ spiritual believes may affect how they deal with their illness or even refuse treatment for example in the case of Jehovah’s Witness who do not accept blood transfusion. The heath care professional should not ridicule such beliefs but help the patient (Puchalski, 2001).
The healthcare professional sometimes deals with the legal concerns of their patients. They should be aware of the legal requirements themselves so that they can advise their patients accordingly. For example all the health professionals are supposed to treat all patients equally without discrimination based on sex, race, color and nationality. The health workers can give this information to a patient who may not feel comfortable being served together with other patients who are different from them. The health workers should explain to the patients the information contained in the consent forms before an operation if they require one. This will ensure that if the operation does not work out there will be no legal actions taken against the doctors and the hospital.
The health professionals are required to have attained specific educational requirements. For nurses they attend nursing schools while doctors attend medical schools. The medical assistants attend post secondary medical programs. The programs are either one year or two years long after which they graduate with a certificate or diploma for the one year program while the two year program they get an associate degree (Medical Assistants, 2009). The courses teach anatomy, medical terminology, physiology, typing, record keeping, transcription, pharmaceutical principles, diagnostic procedures, clinical procedures, first aid and so on. They are given internship physicians offices, health facilities and hospitals where they get a chance to practice what they learnt. On the other hand some are trained on the job though this practice is no longer common like in the past. The applicants require high school diploma and courses in biology, mathematics, typing, computer skills, bookkeeping and so on. They spend the first few months with a qualified personnel who trains them on the job
License requirements for health professionals vary from one state to another. For example in Washington the credential requirements depend on the area of work. An acupuncturist needs to have graduated from a school approved by ACAOM or by the state. They are required to make a statement about their mental as well as physical status, give history concerning registration or loss of license, felony convictions, professional liabilities claimed if any. The applicant is supposed to give the official transcripts together with their degree. The applicant is supposed to back the information they gave with documentary evidence. Additional requirements and documents are certificate for HIV/AIDS training of seven hours, successful exam from NCCAOM and verification of TOEFL score of a minimum of 500 if the NCCAOM exam was not done in English. The supervisor look into the applications and those are successful are given license but those who do not are given a chance for a hearing. The acupuncturists are required to renew their license yearly before their birthday or during the birthday. An appropriate fee is required; renewal card and a completed referral and emergency transfer card (Healthcare Professional, 2009).
Continuing education is required for the professional health workers. This is done to ensure that they learn new things and to ensure that they perform at the best in giving their services to their patients. The certified counselors must register for continuing education after every two years. The education requires thirty six hours and a minimum of those hours are used in learning professional ethics and law concerning counseling (Healthcare Professional, 2009). Some medical assistants advance their education and some end up becoming nurses or join other health profession area (Medical Assistants, 2009).
The typical day in the life of a professional health worker involves interacting with patients and colleagues. Interactions with the patients involve greetings inquiring about how they are feeling, giving information related to medication, food and so on. They also get to answer the many questions that the patients ask for example how long do I have to live? Will I be remembered when I am gone? They should be patient and answer such questions to the patients who may be feeling very desperate. On the other hand they have to deal with their colleagues because they work as a team. Sometimes they fail to agree on how to treat a certain patient and this may lead to stress. For example one may suggest surgery while another may feel this is not the best option for that patient. Therefore consultations are done to agree on the way forward.
Interacting with patients is bound to take toil on the emotions of the professional health worker. The health worker becomes drained emotionally due to the stress related to their job. They deal with people in pain and sometimes they feel helpless when they are unable to alleviate the pain or even death. The professional health care providers need to be given support in their line of duty. They should be given training on how to deal with the patients by improving their communication skills. They should also be given adequate resources to do their work well and more importantly they should have access to mental health services to help them deal with their personal and work related problems. This will ensure that they give good care to their patients as they are well themselves.
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008 Edition, Medical Assistants. Web.
Health Care Professional Credentialing Requirements. Web.
Puchalski, M.C. (2001). The Role of Spirituality in Health Care. PubMed Central Journal 14(4):352-357.
Remen RN. (1997).Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal. New York: Riverhead Books.
Victor, F.E. (1984). Man’s Search for Meaning. New York: Simon and Schuster.