Are you a pre-medical student? Looking for a gap year opportunity?
We are currently hiring! We offer an unparalleled experience for students hoping to immerse themselves in medicine.
If you’re interested, send us a cover letter, resume, and your transcript to nwes [at] myupdox [dot] com
Pre-Med Gap Year Medical Assistant/Scribe Program
Are you a premedical student on a gap year? Would you like to improve your chances of getting into medical school?
Join Northwest Endovascular Surgery’s paid Pre-med Medical Assistant/Scribe program (PMA)!
Saravanan Kasthuri, MD, serves as medical director at Northwest Endovascular Surgery (NWES) and is a clinical assistant professor at WSU Elson S Floyd College of Medicine. He is passionate about providing students with a holistic view of healthcare and hands-on experience to learn and engage with every aspect of running a successful practice.
In this position, PMAs are trained in four key aspects of the practice: front desk work, medical assisting/scribing, assisting with minor surgical procedures, and scrubbing in to assist on endovascular surgical procedures. PMAs support the NWES team and provide ideas to promote efficiency in the care process while gaining key clinical exposure to prepare them for their future in healthcare.
This is an excellent opportunity for premedical students on a gap year looking to gain key clinical exposure and invaluable insights into the workings of a medical practice that will prepare them for their future in medicine.
General:
- Work to maintain our values by engaging with the NWES team in a professional and friendly manner.
- Step in as needed to help any of the other staff.
- Participate in weekly meetings and daily huddles.
- Maintain a clean and tidy workspace and complete necessary housekeeping tasks.
- Maintain a positive attitude and work to maximize patient satisfaction and practice efficiency.
Reception:
- Provide a welcoming atmosphere to patients.
- Check-in patients in a friendly manner as they arrive.
- Complete COVID screenings.
- Obtain needed paperwork.
- Answer calls positively and professionally.
- Relay any necessary information to the rest of the team.
Scheduling and Clerical duties:
- Help process referrals.
- Collect patient demographic and insurance data.
- Obtain necessary insurance authorizations.
- Ensure all necessary labs and imaging are scheduled before the patient is seen in the clinic.
- Schedule new patient and follow-up appointments as well as the appropriate procedures as directed by the physician.
Clinic and Patient care:
- Work to ensure the physician’s time in the clinic is spent efficiently by generating clinic templates, recording patient history, completing pre-registration calls to verify appointments, and obtaining a clinical history from patients.
- During clinic hours PMAs room patients, obtain their vitals, collective subjective information from the patient and family, and identify the main objective the patient wants to accomplish through their appointment.
- PMAs then convey this information to the physician in an efficient manner and assist the physician with notes during the clinical examination. Responsible for room cleaning and turnover.
Minor surgical procedural care:
- Assist in helping the team and physician in the vascular and spinal interventional procedures.
- Prepare sterile field and instruments for the physician.
- Support RNs, RTs, and scrub techs with noting vitals, and procedural inventory.
- Provide appropriate surgical supplies during the procedure.
- Clean, disinfect, and turn over rooms.
- Monitor pre/post-op patients as instructed.
- Keep all areas clean, tidy, and sanitized.
Surgical Scrubbing:
- Serve as the second assist during endovascular procedures
- Progress to primary assist person.
Education: University graduate with a pre-med or equivalent major, currently in their gap year(s) before medical school.
GPA: 3.6 minimum
Experience: none required, but lab work and/or customer service experience preferred
Certification: BLS required
Knowledge:
- Knowledge of Anatomy and Physiology preferred
Skills:
- Good interpersonal skills and the ability to be clear, courteous, and professional in all means of communication
- Comfortable with typing and working with computers
Abilities:
- Avid learner with the ability to engage, ask questions, and the willingness to learn on a steep learning curve
- Ability to work independently and as a team
- Ability to adapt and work in a fast-paced environment and maintain composure in stressful situations
- Must be able to sit at the computer for lengths of time and stand for long periods of time.
At Northwest Endovascular Surgery, diversity and equity are key pillars in our mission to provide great patient care. We are committed to maintaining these values and do not discriminate based on color, race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by local, state, and federal laws.
Alumni Testimonials
Han Pham
(Intern 2023-24)
University of Washington, MD ’28
While it is hard to describe how amazing this program is in words, simply put, my time at NWES has been filled with invaluable experiences and learning opportunities.From the beginning all the way until the end, I was always learning something new each day. Through all the different positions that I worked in at NWES, I was able to overcome the challenges associated with the steep learning curves and grew as both a pre-med student and person.This internship truly gave me a holistic understanding of medicine: investigating patient symptoms while processing referrals, communicating with patients over the phone, helping very ill patients during their clinic visits, scrubbing into procedural cases, helping the doctor as a first assist, working under pressure, learning how to properly clean medical rooms and equipment, learning about insurance and prior authorizations, gaining insight from Dr. Kasthuri on owning a private practice, and so much more.On top of all of this, I was surrounded by such a warm and welcoming team who truly wanted me to succeed every step of the way. I never felt scared to ask questions or ask for help and I have learned so much from each of my team members at NWES.I’m forever grateful for the mentorship I received from Dr. Kasthuri and everyone else and I believe that the knowledge and experiences I have gained at NWES have put me one step ahead of my peers going into medical school.For anyone wondering if they should partake in the PMGY program (whether you are local or out of state), if you have the capability to, I highly advise that you take advantage of this opportunity as you get to do things that not even medical students get to do and you learn so much wisdom that you’ll use for years to come in both medicine and in life. Most certainly, I’ll never forget my time at NWES.
“His practice is a model for how medicine can actually be patient-centered. I am happy to recommend Dr. Kasthuri and all of his highly trained caring staff.”
-Kathleen B.