By: Christiana Pederson Interview: Elisha Terre, CMA

CMA

I-You I sat down with Elisha Terre an we proceeded with an I-You conversation. We respectfully acknowledged each other as human beings and not as objects. Elisha is currently an instructor at globe university, but is sill a Certified Medical Assistant. The interview was a Literal Listening exercise. Where I was listening only for the content and ignoring the relationship level of meaning.

Working With People Q: Do you work with people on a regular basis? Dual Perspective Elisha worked with both patients and co-workers. Being able to work with people is very vital to this career. A Medical Assistant must maintain Dual perspective when working with all kinds of people. You need to be able understand the patient’s needs and request. The ability to understand both your own and another's perspectives, beliefs, thoughts, and feelings. Can be very challenging but also a must in the medical field. Having to agree to disagree is a very hard task to accomplish.

Diversity in Health Care Q: Is it important for you to know how tow work well with divers people? Why? Participating Effectively in a Diverse society. When your working in Health care you must respect and acknowledge their differences. Each person can interpret situations differently; therefore, you must be sensitive to their beliefs. Through interactions with others, we learn about experiences, values, customs and lifestyles that differ from our own. People can then come to understand their differences and our similarities. Avoiding ethnocentrism is crucial, you can’t always assume that everyone should adapt to our culture.

Interpersonal Skills as a CMA Q: What is the most important interpersonal skill someone needs to be successful in the field? Why? As a CMA you are there to treat and educate the patient, not judge them. Being non Judgmental is very important. It’s important not to Totalize or be stereotypical when a patient comes into the office. Looking at the patient as though they are different will generally not have a good outcome in that patient relationship. people have a good sense of when there being treated fairly and with respect. Totalizing, would be if a patient came in and they were homosexual you would see them only as Homosexual and not as anyone else. This is very defensive and is not work appropriate. When you stereotype a patient, you are generalizing about a specific group of people based on your personal history with that group. Such as, if a person lives in a lower income area, then you would believe that there not well educated.

Interpersonal Skills as a CMA Q:What are three other important interpersonal skills necessary for success? Acceptance, Empathy and Listening. During my interview we discussed how important it was to accept why these patients are seeing the doctor. Have empathy and try to understand how they feel. It’s also important to listen to your patients, Maintain those active listening skills. Being focused, and being able to retain what that patient is saying can help you become a better CMA. There is nothing worse then walking into a medical office and having a medical assistant that doesn't have these qualities it’s almost like there pseudolistening, or pretending to care about what you say.

Communication with Patients/Co- Workers Q: What do you feel is the best way to communicate with your employees/Patients? Positive Communication between employees can improve a better working environment. People talk to people when there comfortable with them. So you need to be approachable, with a positive attitude. Be a mindful listener. Care about what they are saying. Remember to Monitor what you say by regulating your response in a kind professional manner.

Non Verbal Communication Q: Do you notice non-verbal communication when communicating with co-workers or patients? What a patients says can be different then what a patient does. During the interview we were discussing the importance of eye contact. A patient who shows no eye contact generally means they lack interest. Maybe they do not want to be told what to do, or has no interest in changing their life style. You should also watch there body language as well. Certain Kinesics with their body like, fidgeting, rocking, facial expression can all give you an idea of what the patient is really thinking.

Conflict Q: How do you approach and deal with conflict? Elisha Terre does not believe in conflict she tends to “run” away from it. She has a natural exit response. When conflict arises Elisha usually ends up as a lose-lose orientation. No party has a chance to express their opinions. However, as a CMA it’s important to learn how to deal with conflict and accept what the other person has to say. Conflict is expressed when people have a strong different point of view or opinion. In a medical office this can happen all the time. It is important to learn to voice your response by addressing the problem and finding a way to resolve it. This will cause a Win-Win response and both parties can be satisfied. Learning to deal with conflict in a dual perspective kind of way will make working as a team more successful.

Know Your Patients Q: How do you maintain an healthy patient relationship? Since coming to the Doctors office isn’t usually a pleasant visit make sure you always know your audience. Try to make an uncomfortable situation comfortable. Most patients have a hard time dealing with self- disclosure and feel very vulnerable. By finding ways to communicate with them makes it easier for them to tell you their personal information. Mind reading is sometimes part of being a medical assistant. When dealing with patients,you may never know what they are really feeling. This is usually a harmful practice and you have to know who it works on and who it doesn’t. This is the part where “know your audience” will take effect. look at the non verbal communication and do so with Empathy.

Dealing with personal values Q: Have you or a Co-worker ever had to do something that was against you values or beliefs? How did you handle that situation? Values? Ethics? Morals? Elisha had a co-worker that was catholic and did not believe in birth control. She would refuse to give Birth Control medication in the clinic. Other Co-workers would have to administer the medication for her. Ethics, everyone has them. We all have Personal moral values. Doing something against your belief in your mind can be immoral. There is nothing wrong with having personal values, but maybe in this case she should have tried to find employment else where. A place that does not offer Birth Control injections in the office. We has human beings have every right to believe what we want. It’s up to us how we choose to enforce that belief.

Listen to your patients Q: How do you maintain active listening with you patients? Listening can be hard, but the important thing is to have eye contact, make sure that your showing them that you care. Don’t be to close, yet don’t be to far either. Watch there expressions when there talking to you. Pick up there non-verbal cues. Elisha has learned by being assertive rather than aggressive can show them that you care without making them feel uncomfortable. Be sure to Paraphrase when patients are done speaking. Repeating what the patient tells you will help you retain it, and also show the patient your awareness to the problem. There are many different types of listening. The most important ones for a Medical Assistant is literal listening, active listening, and mindful listening. You want to avoid listening just for content even though that’s what your really trying to do. Being a mindful listener will help improve your relationship with your patients. Providing Feedback is part of the active listening as well. Make sure your patient knows that you are being mindful of what their saying. Listening can be difficult when you have patients with disabilities, or don’t speak English. It is important to find a way to break that language barrier by using, hands on techniques, models, videos. Whatever you can do so the patient understands you and you can understand the patient.

Communication Climate Just like interpersonal communication, I've learned that a CMA must have an ongoing dual perspective, and be able to monitor themselves when communicating with patients/co-workers. The interview I had with Elisha Terre was a very rewarding experience for me. She is my role-model when it comes to Interpersonal Relations and as a CMA. She always knows how to grab you attention. Respects you and what you have to say, and shows empathy. The communication climate I had with Elisha was very warm and comfortable.