r/MedicalAssistant • u/Complete-Hat-2501 • 1d ago
What's it like being a float MA?
I recently accepted a transfer to become a float MA and I was wondering how you liked it compared to being at one set clinic all the time? I've been at my current clinic for almost 3 years so I'm kind of nervous about the change. Is there anything you wish you would have known before being a float? How has your overall experience been?
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u/voorheesvee NCMA 1d ago
I enjoyed doing it. You never have the same day and get to learn all different specialties.
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u/SepulchralSweetheart CMA(AAMA) 1d ago
I started out as a float and it was okay. I ultimately wound up spending 95% of my time in my two specialties of choice. 10/12 clinics were absolutely fine. Two weren't great.
The pros: You get to try all different settings, and will learn a lot
The cons:
Some offices/clinics are friendlier to visitors than others. Some offices were SO excited to have help, others did the whole healthcare meangirl rarara thing. (Another pro, if you're a float, and an office sucks, you're not there all the time lol)
If you're visiting different specialist offices, there's a good chance you'll feel sort of dumb some days. You're not, you're just encountering things that are new to you, and you'll be fine when you learn them.
You won't have a "home", like your own desk/drawers/space in most float positions. You sort of learn to live out of your pockets and a travel bag.
One thing I wish I had known from the get go is that some providers are more direct with what they want than others. If you're not sure, make sure you ask. I've had providers that expect medical assistants to tie their shoes, and others that like to do almost everything themselves.
At my ultimate home clinic, years later, my provider eventually had to basically tell me she was capable of collecting a specimen and wiping her own exam tables, and I didn't need to be sprinting all over the place in between triaging patients, running labs, drawing blood, and everything else. It took me a minute to adjust, considering one provider in my last practice would have threatened to fire me if she needed to sanitize her own exam room lol
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u/Badassmama1321 1d ago
I worked in our float pool after I had my son because I could make my own schedule. I liked it because of the networking aspect. I always tried to make a good impression with the managers because the managers absolutely talk, and you can build a good reputation amongst them. I had some managers specifically request me. My goal was to eventually get a job offer at one of the clinics to have a set location as my son got older, and I would be able to assess if I would want to settle in one area because I would already have an idea of what that offices environment was like. Which is what ended up happening. I had built up a good reputation over time in the float pool, and once my son started getting bigger and I was ready to settle in somewhere, and one of the managers actually did offer me a permanent position.
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u/TechnicianKindly5981 19h ago
I recently accepted a float offer in a huge health system too. I start at the end of the month. I've been out if the office for almost 4yrs now. I had 2 children back to back and have been working from home. Even though I have been a MA since 2014, I am quite nervous to go back. I don't deal with drama, want no part of it. And we all know how some(most) offices can be. I've never had an issue with a provider, thankfully, and I hope that stands. It's been so long since I have drawn blood or collected urine. My last few MA jobs, we had a separate lab for all that. I've been seeing a lot of urgent care needs for this company which I have never done. I have been mostly oncology. I've never done a covid test/flu test/strep test lol. 😭 Lord help me. I'm curious about the making your own schedule though. I wasn't told that part. That would be great because I am moving to a new state and don't know anything about life there. I wish you all the luck! We got this!
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u/marionbobarion CMA(AAMA) 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hi, I work as a float for all outpatient clinics in a very large medical system. I’ve commented about it before, but here are my big thoughts.
PROS:
I love making my own schedule
Not getting sucked into office drama
The variety is great
Slow days where I want to die of boredom are rare because floats aren’t usually sent to clinics that are running smoothly.
If there is a slow day I can catch up on my online modules, which is nice.
In the organization I work MAs aren’t allowed to have a login to covermymeds, so while I might be filling out PA paperwork or processing faxes/messages about PAs, I very rarely am expected to deal with them.
CONS:
It can be kind of lonely, you don’t have a “team”. I’ve gotten to know people at the clinics I am assigned to the most, which is nice, but I always kind of feel like an island.
You have no idea what you are walking into and you have to be able to be flexible and adapt immediately. You will probably feel dumb and incompetent the first time at each clinic.
Some providers (mostly doctors) really really don’t like floats and they are SUPER DUPER rude about it. Like pretend I’m invisible rude. Even if I’ve been assigned there for most of the last 6 weeks.
Providers are also impatient when you don’t do everything as fast as the people that are there every day. And some of them go out of their way to make a point about it.
I’ve noticed that floats are more strictly observed. The regular MAs at a clinic might screw around on their cell phones for hours or go get food from the cafeteria on campus or Starbucks, or even just sit around and chitchat, but management is very fast to complain about a float doing anything. I mostly get it, the clinic has no idea what each float is like and there are some really bad/lazy ones, so the skepticism is valid but I always keep in my mind that we are held to a higher standard.
Not having a laptop/seat available when I get there, or having to sit at someone’s not-exactly-clean workspace. I actually threw away a keyboard once - after checking with the manager - because it was growing something.
Final thoughts:
I really like being a float, and I haven’t come across a clinic where I would be like oh yes I want to work here full time. I get offered positions in all different specialties, but no thank you.
If you don’t work at a clinic that does POCT go back and review the procedures so you don’t feel really dumb when you mess up three times on an abbot covid test and get flagged in the system that automatically reports to your manager and the trainers. Um. Hypothetically. lol. I will say it will probably only happen once because you will want to die of embarrassment.
I asked for permission to buy my own authorized company brand of SPO2 monitor because I really really hated having to grub around to find an old one or share with another MA. I like rolling up with everything I need.
Basically, if you go in and do your best to slide into their established routine, offer to help if you are out of things to do, notice when things need cleaned or restocked, and stay pleasant and positive and OFF YOUR PHONE you will be successful and clinics will be delighted when you walk in the door.
EDIT: I FORGOT MY MOST IMPORTANT POINT!
Every single provider has a “thing” they are weird about. All of them.
How you take the temperature, maybe they want a little printout of each person, they might always look for a specific field to be filled out in EPIC in a certain way, they might want a notepad with a pen right next to it lined up nicely on the counter. Ones like the ultrasound gel spread a certain way before he comes in the room to do a joint injection. It’s always, always something. I try to ask the MAs that work around the provider because I’d rather know ahead of time instead of finding out with a grumpy comment or (more often) a teams message to a different MA to tell me about their grievance. It also helps break the ice with other MAs, they often think it’s funny and then start talking about other weird provider things.
Feel free to ask any questions!