Having a guest speaker visit the campus and share with students is always an exciting time. It’s even more exciting when that guest is also a Ross graduate! Recently, the staff, faculty, and students at the Ross Medical Education Center campus in Roosevelt Park, Michigan have gotten to enjoy that not just once but twice! First Tom Meyers, a 2014 graduate of the Medical Assistant program, came to talk to the students about some of the exciting opportunities that his healthcare training have given him as well as expectations in the field. Then, Diane Goryl, a past Medical Assistant graduate, former instructor, and now a supervisor with Mercy Health visited the morning Medical Assistant class to talk about expectations.
The Roosevelt Park Campus was not only happy to bring back past graduate Tom Meyers to speak, but honored at his accomplishments since graduation. Before successfully completing the program and graduating, Tom had been one of the students who came to the point halfway through his program where he really questioned if he could make it. There were personal barriers to overcome which at the time seemed to be an impossible feat. But Tom got the support he needed from staff, faculty, and his classmates and he made it!
Tom not only successfully completed the program but also obtained employment as a full time Medical Assistant at a local family practice. Shortly after, he was able to take his education and Medical Assistant experience from Ross and go to Haiti on a medical missionary trip. He spent approximately one week in Haiti where he was able to help treat an average of 100 people per day. He talked to the class about his experiences with the culture as well as being a part of a team that had to do a surgical procedure in a classroom with no anesthesia. The students were full of questions for Tom about his experiences.
In closing, Tom talked about professionalism and the expectations of Medical Assistants in the field. He explained that attendance is the key to success. He stated that, “if you are there, we can teach you.” He went on to talk about teamwork and the importance of making sure that you do not get involved in drama or gossip because it not only travels in the office but through medical systems which can lead to someone not getting called for an interview or not getting employed.
The second exciting visit was from Diane Goryl. Diane currently supervises the Medical Assistant Resource Pool for Mercy Health where she works with over 30 offices in the Muskegon area. During the interview processes for Medical Assistants, she also serves as a member of the panel that interviews potential employees. Diane talked to the students about the expectations of externship as well as employment at Mercy.
Diane brought up several good points as a way for the students to understand the importance of what they do in class every day. One area that Diane focused on was the importance of utilizing their Physician Drug Reference books and taking those assignments seriously as this is an important focus of Medical Assistants in the field. She explained that students need to understand and know commonly prescribed drugs, both trade names and generic names and how to efficiently educate the patient about them.
She also discussed the importance of practicing vitals each day in class so that when they leave for externship, they are 100% confident in their skill set. These along with attitude are what a person needs to have to be a successful Medical Assistant.
Diane furthered the discussion as she gave real life examples of individuals being terminated for the use of cell phones as well as social media posts. The message regarding cell phones and appropriate use of social media was well received by the students. Diane explained that although there may not be the intent behind a post, perception is everything, and you can be terminated based on perception. In addition, stories were told about employees that used their cell phone to text just “for a moment” and then were immediately terminated for usage. The students were surprised by some of the stories but gained an understanding of why Ross policies exist in order to prepare them for the field.