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Rural health profile: Kim Weeks
12th August 2019
Kim Weeks, Practice Manager at Marima Medical Clinic shares how Medical Practice Assistants (MPAs) have improved the patient experience and provided unexpected benefits.
"As a practice manager I am always looking for more innovative and efficient ways to operate in General Practice. Running a practice today is costing more and more, and resources are ever diminishing, so the introduction of the Medical Practice Assistant (MPA) role has provided new and exciting employment opportunities for the practice environment. I encourage fellow health administrators and practice managers to embrace these opportunities.
"MPAs are formally trained to provide administrative and clinical assistance to health practitioners working in ambulatory care settings and perform tasks at the direction of a registered health professional.
"When I saw UNE Partnerships (UNEP) was offering the Certificate IV in Medical Practice Assisting I was delighted. The opportunities for professional development in regional NSW and particularly in the General Practice environment don’t come along very often. When I opened the opportunity to my support staff, to my surprise, three members of the reception team responded. With financial assistance from the PHN for one member, the three support staff trained simultaneously over two years.
"I now have three qualified MPAs and I couldn’t be happier. Each MPA has been given their own consulting room and appointment list and will assist the team with administrative tasks such as care planning, data clean up and recalls, and clinical duties such as blood glucose testing, audiometry, bandaging, cold chain management and onsite sterilisation to name a few.
"We achieved the smooth introduction and acceptance of the MPAs into the practice by ensuring clear communication at every step with all the GPs and clinicians, who have enthusiastically jumped on board and are excited about this opportunity for the staff and the practice."
Kim Weeks - Practice Manager Marima Medical Clinic.
Pictured L-R: Julie Smith, Donna Kennedy, Chloe Cassells from Marima Medical Clinic
