When people talk about virtual assistants, the first thing that typically comes to mind are the types of virtual assistants that provide support to business managers and other executive positions. While VAs are commonly utilized in the business and management worlds, they can also provide the same services and assistance to other fields, including the medical world.

The medical and healthcare industries are essential to any community. This was further highlighted during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. In order to cater to the influx of patients looking for medical care, the community turned to technology and adopted online or virtual consultations to accommodate not-so-urgent cases.

With healthcare providers at an essential position in our society, it’s important to provide them with all the possible support and assistance. This is where the role of medical virtual assistants comes into play. 

 

What is A Medical Virtual Assistant?

A medical virtual assistant is a VA that provides online executive assistant services to clients in the medical industry. Generally, there’s no medical background required in order to be a med VA. However, it is particularly common for those working as medical assistants to have some sort of educational background or experience in medical practice or field.

Healthcare professionals such as medical assistants, registered nurses, emergency health responders, and even physicians can all train and work as virtual assistants specializing in the healthcare industry. Aside from a healthcare background, it’s more important for a remote med VA to have the tech and communication skills to operate their VA tools and devices while working at home.

 

Types of Medical Virtual Assistants

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There are different types of medical virtual assistants depending on their roles, responsibilities, as well as their years of experience. 

 

VMA Administrator

A virtual medical assistant administrator is a med VA especially tasked with administrative and clerical roles and responsibilities. As a remote med virtual assistant, the VMA administrator is typically the first person clients and patients communicate and interact with as well as continuously throughout their journey as customers or patients. Taking this into consideration, a virtual medical assistant administrator should have the communication skills and a pleasant personality to ensure positive interactions with clients. 

 

VMA Executive

A virtual medical assistant executive is a particularly specialized position responsible for communicating and collaborating with clients directly. It is a senior administrative role that requires leadership skills to guide junior team members. Although it is not required, a virtual medical assistant executive should ideally have medical background and experience in order to have a deeper and inner understanding of how the industry works. 

 

Virtual Medical Assistant Associate

An associate medical virtual assistant is those with significant experience working with patients or clients in the healthcare industry. They are well capable to work remotely and independently and they may also be given the responsibility to train and supervise medical virtual assistants for healthcare who are junior to their position. Med VA associates are commonly tasked to provide administrative services tailored to patients and clients related to the medical field.

 

Virtual Medical Assistant Specialist

A med virtual assistant specialist is a trained and certified healthcare professional who is responsible for providing quality and secure administrative support. Because of their HIPAA-certified healthcare training, virtual medical assistant specialists are well capable and knowledgable to perform an initial of clients in order to tag them as either urgent or not. Aside from their medical knowledge, a med VA specialist should also be well-versed with tech and communication tools to accurately provide timely administrative services.

 

Virtual RN

The virtual RN position is given to virtual assistants who are US-licensed registered nurses. Virtual RNs, therefore, are equipped with medical knowledge and healthcare service methodologies to provide accurate customer support to clients with specific or technical inquiries. However, virtual RNs should also have the technical know-how and skills to provide assistance remotely.

 

Signs That You Need a Medical Virtual Assistant

You’re swamped with mundane administrative tasks

Having your registered nurse or physician answer phone calls instead of meeting with patients is undoubtedly one of the most effective ways to waste their time and skills. The few minutes it takes to tend to these seemingly small tasks throughout the day can pile up and turn out to be as long as one to two patient consultations. Hiring a medical virtual assistant full-time can take these mundane tasks off of your health provides and allow them to spend more time with their clients. The more time and less rushed your physicians feel, the more they can concentrate and listen to their clients. Ultimately, providing better services to customers. 

 

You’re overly stressed with work

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According to the latest data, medical and healthcare professionals endure one of the most physically and mentally stressful work environments. However, their devotion to providing quality healthcare pushes them to continue working. In some circumstances, it comes to the point that medical professionals themselves fail to take care of their health as well. 

If responsibilities at work are taking a toll on your mental and physical well-being, hiring a medical virtual assistant can help ease your stress and burden. Delegating tasks to your med VA allows you to keep your workload more manageable.

 

You notice a decrease in productivity

When people feel overwhelmed with their responsibilities at work, they can have difficulty coping and feel detached and demotivated with what they are doing. Failure to come up with healthy coping mechanisms for a stressful work setup can lead to burnout. 

In the medical field, working with a physical or mental health condition that is not up to standard can have serious and dire consequences. To prevent this from happening, hiring a med VA can provide a helping hand to anyone noticeably struggling with their work responsibilities. The support that a med VA can provide can keep your doctors and nurses in a positive and manageable work environment. 

 

Want to know more about how virtual assistants can help your business? Sidekicks is an on-demand virtual company and we’re eager to help visionaries and entrepreneurs like you. Get a free ebook and learn more about how we can help you by signing up for our newsletter. We also offer a free 30-minute consultation if you prefer something more personal.

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