Job: Medical Assistant (Certified) (United States)

I have worked for the same practice for 4 years. A surgical clinic consisting of 5 surgeons, 2 of whom specialize in vascular surgery - ever since I was hired I have been praised by patients and other staff members alike (albeit only verbally) as the one who got things done, the one to go to for answers, and the one who did his job well. This resulting advice comes from years of very hard work, very long hours, and the painful reality underneath it all.

The other staff members dump (on average) about 70% of their workload onto me whilst they stand around chatting to patients and amongst one another about their personal lives (getting extremely intimate at times about very VERY inappropriate details)

Pay was never based upon skill, work load, work quality, attendance, or any other criteria based in reality - rather; the other staff members, some who had no more than a high school education were ALL paid more than medical assistants and the physicians assistant. Specifically the main receptionist who had no formal education or training was paid almost 3 times my rate of pay for doing what is comparable to shuffling papers on a desk and pretending to work for 7 hours a day, after which time her workload was promptly given to the back office staff (aka yours truly) to preform on top of all other job duties.

The manager (who happens to be the owners significant other) has constantly been of the "we're just in a phase, things will get better" mindset and dismisses my requests for fair pay and my suggestions with a smug passive aggressive attitude something along the lines of a "if I ignore it it'll go away" attitude. The manager would also gladly throw anyone under the bus to save face or avoid her own short-comings whenever possible, commonly resulting in being told to preform a task; when the doctor found out and brought to your attention that what you were doing was against what they wanted the manager would inevitably deny any involvement in telling you to do said task.

The icing on the cake is the legal corner cutting involved; like the employee handbook that specified that employees were not to discuss their pay in OR OUT of the office REGARDLESS of whether you were on work time or not. A clause which (in the state I am in at least) is SPECIFICALLY and COMPLETELY against the law.

When managers are asking you find ways around laws to exploit workers or give someone less money - RUN, and do NOT turn back EVER!

What's the moral of this story? The medical field is not as straight forward as it seems, office politics and personal grudges between doctors affecting the lives of sick people is not pretty, why should you get stiffed and have to deal with that and not be able to do anything about it?

Use every avenue possible to review such as: newspaper, internet, word of mouth , job placement firms.

My Dream Job, would be to work in a large hospital well known for their commitment to health care with a good reputation! Because I feel if they shine I'll shine even greater because I try to leave a good reputation where I work. I love the way I think I would feel being able to be employed at a place that would be known for their care giving!

I worked as a nurses aide for 13 years and a medical unit assistant for 3 years and now I am going into a new area of medical due to the fact that i am relocating. I would like to be able to keep helping sick people because the is my passion and i do not want to loose it but also i would like a fair salary and paid vaction and benefits.