First Place Health Services Essay
Milton P. Higgins Technical Excellence Award 2004
April Doucette, Montachusett Regional Vocation High School
My vocational educational experiences in the Medical Assisting Program at Monty Tech have given me a jump start on my career in medicine. After high school I plan to go to college and continue my education. I have a leadership role in my shop and am more advanced than most. Communicating and calculating skills are very important in the health profession and are used daily. I believe that the role I have in my ship and the skills I’ve acquired I’ve achieved because of my educational experiences and I know they have prepared me for college.
I’m more reliable because of all the responsibilities I’ve acquired in my ship. In shop we learn that the slightest mistake can be responsible for someone’s death. Everything from records, to billing, to all around patient care has to be one hundred percent correct. Many legal cases could have been avoided if time was taken to make sure everything was completely in order. Those are just a few responsibilities of a medical assistant but those pressures are enough that if you do the job correctly and well it shows how reliable you can be.
My attitude has improved significantly over the last few years. When I was a freshman and I got really upset I would say whatever was on my mind and I would procrastinate a lot. With the training I’ve received at Monty Tech I’ve learned to be very tactful and hold my tongue when I feel like screaming at someone. I’ve also become a lot more organized with my time and I don’t put things off until the last minute anymore.
In the Medical Assisting program at Monty Tech a lot of our training evolves around communication and calculation. We are taught many different ways to communicate with patients who may be handicapped, impaired, or who just speak a different language. We learn not only how to communicate our words but how to decipher their feelings and what they are trying to communicate to us. Calculation is a large part of any medical assistant’s job whether he or she is a medical office assistant (working with records, schedules, insurance, etc.) or just a medical assistant (doing clerical work). Math skills are used every day.
Unlike most high school students I have a jump start on my career in medicine. My educational experiences have helped shape me into the kind o person I need to be for such a career. My attitude, my reliability, and my training are all things that have prepared me for greater education and a future career in medicine. Though my experiences have not yet helped me decide what part of medicine I would like to further my education in, it has helped me broaden my horizons and has helped me decide what parts of medicine I am interested in and what parts I could never see myself doing.
