Review the scenario at the beginning of this chapter and respond to the following. It is a typically active day at the offices of Drs. Lewis and King. Despite the three emergencies in the early afternoon and the full schedule of patients, everything is running smoothly with Dr. Lewis, and the entire staff is responding quickly but thoroughly to patient concerns. At 4:00 PM, another emergency patient arrives; at the same time, Jim Marshal, an architect in a downtown firm comes in early for a routine appointment and demands to be seen immediately. Jim, a regular patient, has a history of being difficult and impatient; being a bit arrogant, he tends to put his needs first. However, Dr. Lewis is occupied with another patient. It is critical to treat the patient with the emergency as soon as possible, and Jim is half an hour early. Joe Guerrero, CMA (AAMA), the office’s administrative and clinical medical assistant, calmly asks Mr. Marshal to please wait until his scheduled appointment time. When he threatens to leave, Joe explains to Mr. Marshal that there are two patients ahead of him, but that the provider will see him at his scheduled appointment time.
1. What communication roadblocks did medical assistant Joe Guerrero avoid in reacting to Jim Marshal’s demands to see the provider?
2. With another student, role-play the scenario, with one student taking the role of patient and one student the role of the medical assistant. Identify roadblocks to communication imposed by the patient. How is the medical assistant using the five Cs of communication to deal with the situation?
3. Do you think the medical assistant reacted appropriately? What else could he have done? What should he not do in this situation?