According to a study, greater use of medical assistants (MA) can help physicians to cut patient wait times, raise job satisfaction and give more time for direct patient care. The study used “Together Each person Achieves More” (TEAM) approach and reported 77% lower patient wait times (from nine minutes to two) and 8% more physician and staff time with patients (from 24 minutes to 26). Moreover, the job satisfaction among physicians rose 5%.
The study also stated that “innovations like the TEAM Primary Care model may help physicians to improve the well-being of not just our patients, but also our health professionals and the healthcare industry as a whole”. The study has given three keys that help this team-based primary care model to work effectively. Expand MA responsibilities: Adaptation of a staffing ratio of three medical assistants for two physicians to form a 2:1 ratio, this will…
