Medical professionals who want to continue their education are initially faced with a major problem: an almost endless range of continuing education and courses of study. “I found everything and nothing on the Internet,” says Kristin Maurach, a trained medical assistant, about her first attempt to find the right continuing education. Kristin had to do intensive research for about a year before she decided to study Health and Social Management while working.
“Advanced training opportunities for MFA are like a career jungle”
Kristin Maurach, founder of MFA in a different way
After her studies, Kristin called the platform MFA-mal-anders.de into life. MFA in a different way in Germany is now the largest career portal exclusively for medical and dental professionals. Kristin talks to Nelly about how your platform helps MFAs make training decisions and how practices find the right MFA via the website.
“There was no central training site for MFAs that listed all offers”
Nelly: Why did you start MFA differently?
Kristin Maurach: The idea was born out of necessity: I spent a long time looking for the right training myself, but had to do extremely long research to find the right one.
I am a trained medical assistant. I still did the old training, then one year later it was the training to become a medical assistant. I've always enjoyed my job. It is a really nice job! However, I reached a fairly high point in my career very quickly. Namely as a practice manager for the medical director of a private clinic. So I thought to myself: Should I still do this job in 30 or 40 years...? That wasn't an option for me. I was eager to learn and wanted more.
So I decided to continue my education. In fact, I had no overview of what options there were actually. I've received very little help on the Internet. I had to fight my way through a real career jungle and do a lot of research. Because there was simply no central page on which all offers are listed. Even the pages of the medical associations did not help me. That's when I came up with the idea for MFA in a different way. After all, I spent a year collecting information about career opportunities at MFA. And I also wanted to make this available to other medical professionals.
“Practices must apply to MFA — and not vice versa”
Nelly: What exactly does MFA offer in a different way?
Kristin Maurach: Our focus is on the MFA career. We have a clear list of all continuing education and training opportunities as well as study programs.
On our website, the MFA can therefore search specifically for further training in practice management, for example. She sees at a glance: Who is actually offering this? Who is online? Who only goes offline? The medical assistant can therefore immediately overview all advantages and disadvantages. This is not available online on any other platform.
Then, of course, there are also job offers and applications. Because although MFA training is one of the most popular courses, there are simply too few applicants for too many open positions. And as a result, practices must apply to medical professionals — and not vice versa.
So if practices are looking for MFAs, they can place an ad with us or browse through job applications. MFAs can submit job applications completely anonymously — an option that is used very frequently. Potential employers from the area can then contact the medical specialist. The MFA, in turn, is then free to decide whether to answer or not. This puts the MFA in a better position with us and holds the sceptre in its own hands, so to speak!
Nelly: How can ZFA and MFA continue their education? Can you give a few examples?
Kristin Maurach: There are really diverse and so countless continuing education and training courses that I can't list them all here. If you want to continue your education as an MFA, you should first ask yourself the question: What do I enjoy most about my job? Am I more of the one who likes working with patients? Or am I perhaps an organizational talent? For example, there are also people who are flourishing when it comes to data protection or who like to take care of quality management in practices.
Once the MFA has figured this out, they can find out more about continuing education opportunities in various professional fields on our website. Here, she can search for continuing education in the areas of medical-technical, administrative, consulting, management and research. So there is something for every medical professional!
“Many doctors unconsciously create a hierarchical working environment”
Nelly: In your opinion, what are the most common problems in medical practices for MFA?
Kristin Maurach: The biggest problem in medical practices is by far the lack of staff. In principle, there is always too little MFA in practices for far too many tasks. Bureaucracy in particular is bothering many medical professionals.
Then there is the issue of personnel management. Doctors are, of course, experts in their field, but they must also lead people. But that is not taught at all in medical school. Physicians often have an old professor in front of them in their education and start very small at the lowest hierarchical level. And it is precisely this experience that they then unconsciously pass on to the MFA and thus create a very hierarchical, ancient working environment. This not always respectful treatment of medical professionals creates an unhealthy working environment.
In addition, there is always friction due to working hours. Many practices still have opening hours from the past, where there are very long lunch breaks but the practice is open late in the afternoon until evening. This is of course a great service for patients. But these working hours are often too inflexible for employees. Because many want or sometimes have to go off work early to ensure childcare. Because around 98 percent of the MFA job is still a woman's job and childcare is still often largely taken over by mothers.
Nelly: How can medical practices make the MFA profession more attractive from your point of view?
Kristin Maurach: Many tasks simply have to be made much more efficient — for example through digitization. With the right software solutions, MFA can be relieved in order to have more time for patients or to perform other important administrative tasks.
In addition, more training places simply have to be created. Practices should also be open to career changers who, for example, manage reception and use digital tools to make everyday practice more efficient and smooth. As a result of digital assistants, there are more staff in practices, so to speak, so that MFAs have more time again to carry out the more complex tasks adequately and with high quality. Then you'll have less stress and more fun at work again!
Take the pressure off your MFA with Nelly
As a doctor, would you also like to make the working environment of your medical professionals more attractive? Then free them from unnecessary paperwork — with Nelly. With the software, you can digitize patient records and give your MFA 90 minutes more time — every day. Now you too can create a digital workflow in your practice. We advise you non-binding and free to your individual case!
The personal names used in this article always refer equally to all persons. Dual naming and alternate names are omitted in order to improve readability.
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