Xavier Washington

How did you pick your career? Did you know all along?

I changed my mind and career path several times before I found what I love doing now. I graduated HS at 17 and at that time I wanted to be a Doctor, I went to college for 1 year as a Bio Pre-Med major, then the loss of a parent that year caused me to leave school for a year, then when I went back I wanted to be a Lawyer or a Police Officer and studied criminal justice for 2 years, while I loved the subject and area I knew deep down inside I didn’t want to do it as a profession so I just worked and applied for jobs that I felt drawn to in hopes of finding my true passion. I started working in health and human services in a group home residential setting for 5 years and my favorite part of the job was passing medications, and running the doctor’s appointments. I felt truly curious about learning all the different medication types and names and everything I could about healthcare in general. After that job I was fortunate enough to land a Medical Assistant position at a local Non-Profit Healthcare Practice that specializes in working with patients who are affected by HIV/AIDS, or Substance Addiction, as well as patients who identify as LGBTQIA and also with Communities of Color. In this job I self confirmed that healthcare was what I wanted to do the rest of my life. I learned so much in the 8 years working in that position. To further my skills and challenge myself I decided this year to go back to school and I am currently enrolled and taking courses pursing a Nursing degree. So I didn’t know all along, it took many years before I found what truly made me happy, and it’s the best feeling in the world.

In layperson terms, what do you actually do at work?

Being a Medical Assistant the tasks or responsibilities you have can vary greatly. Some jobs require more administrative work like answering phones, insurance verification, appointment scheduling, etc while some jobs it’s more clinical and you’re taking vitals, performing various tests on patients and obtaining lab samples, you also will most likely be taking medical histories from patients and documenting them in the electronic medical records system, and depending on the type of office or practice specialty you work at such as primary care, OB/GYN, Ophthalmology, Gastro, Cardiology, Pediatrics etc you can do various other clinical tasks such as surgical assisting, sterilizing instruments, performing eye exams, obtaining prior authorizations from insurance companies for medicines, and/or surgical procedures. So there’s a ton of different tasks you can be asked to do, it also depends on the state you work in as well as the rules of the practice you work at in regards to what they will and will not allow you to do. Some states allow Med Assistants to give shots, my state in NY does not