PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Alden Yuanhong Lai
AU  - Bram P. I. Fleuren
AU  - Christina T. Yuan
AU  - Erin E. Sullivan
AU  - S. Mark McNeill
TI  - Delivering High-Quality Primary Care Requires Work That Is Worthwhile for Medical Assistants
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2022.220249R1
DP  - 2022 Dec 02
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
PG  - jabfm.2022.220249R1
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/early/2022/12/01/jabfm.2022.220249R1.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/early/2022/12/01/jabfm.2022.220249R1.full
AB  - Medical assistants are core members of the primary care team, but health care organizations struggle to hire and retain them amid the ongoing exodus of health care workers as part of the “Great Resignation.” To sustain a stable and engaged workforce of medical assistants, we argue that efforts to hire and retain them should focus on making their work worthwhile. Work that is worthwhile includes adequate pay, benefits, and job security, but additionally enables employees to experience a sense of contribution, growth, social connectedness, and autonomy. We highlight opportunities during team huddles, the rooming of patients, and career development where the work of medical assistants can be made worthwhile. We also connect these components to the work design literature to show how clinic managers and supervising clinicians can promote worthwhile work through decision-making and organizational climate. Going beyond financial compensation, these components target the latent occupational needs of medical assistants and are likely to forge employee-employer relationships that are mutually valued and sustained over time.