Clinical Duties
Clinical Duties
The Clinical Duties domain tests the hands-on patient-care knowledge a medical assistant uses daily: vital signs, infection control, exam preparation, specimen collection, medication administration, EKG, and emergency response. Questions are often scenario-based, so know both the rule and the reason behind it.
Core rules
- Standard precautions apply to every patient. Wear gloves for blood, body fluids, mucous membranes, and non-intact skin; add gown, mask, and eye protection when splash risk exists. Perform hand hygiene before and after gloves.
- Adult resting vital signs are approximately 60–100 beats/min pulse, 12–20 respirations/min, BP under 120/80 mm Hg, oral temperature 97.6–99.6°F (36.5–37.5°C), and SpO2 95–100%. If respirations are regular, count for 30 seconds and multiply by 2; count for a full 60 seconds if irregular.
- Medication administration requires the six rights: right patient, drug, dose, route, time, and documentation. Use two patient identifiers. Do not give a drug that is unlabeled or that someone else prepared.
- In a sterile field, keep sterile items above waist level, do not reach over the field, and treat anything wet or outside the field as contaminated.
Worked example
Order: digoxin 0.25 mg PO. Available: 0.5 mg per 2 mL. Calculation: (0.25 mg ÷ 0.5 mg) × 2 mL = 1 mL. Verify the vial label, confirm the patient with two identifiers, give the ordered route, and document the dose, time, and site. The reasoning: the ordered dose is half the available dose, so the volume is half of 2 mL.
Traps
Do not check a pulse with your thumb, because you may feel your own pulse. Avoid taking blood pressure on an arm with an IV line, AV fistula, lymphedema, or mastectomy on that side. Do not recap needles with two hands. Do not label a temperature “normal” without stating the route; rectal and axillary readings differ.