Known for more than 60 years for its alignment with national curriculum standards, Kinn’s The Medical Assistant: An Applied Learning Approach, 14th Edition teaches real-world administrative and clinical skills essential for a career in the modern medical office — always with a focus on helping students apply what they’ve learned. The reorganized 14th edition features a new author team, including Brigitte Niedzwiecki, RN, MSN, RMA, a medical assistant program director at Chippewa Valley Technical College.
In this Q&A, she shares a few insights into what to expect from the 14th edition of Kinn’s and tips from her own experiences teaching medical assisting.
In your opinion, what are a few of the key changes in the latest edition of Kinn’s, and why are these changes so important?
In my experience and from what I am hearing from other medical assistant instructors, many students struggle to read textbooks. This textbook is written in a clear, easy-to-understand language. It is written at an easier reading level compared to other comprehensive medical assistant textbooks.
Math is another struggle for many of today’s medical assistant students. We incorporated math practice in related chapters throughout the textbook and study guide. Syringe reading and step-by-step math solutions for medication problems have been enhanced in the pharmacology chapters. The related study guide answer key provides additional content for instructors to help students solve math problems.
How is the Kinn’s textbook a valuable tool for educators to use in their teaching?
To help cover topics in various courses, instructors often have medical assistant students purchase several textbooks. With Kinn’s, we strove to solve this and expanded the content to help instructors cover topics with one comprehensive book. Some of the updates in Kinn’s include:
- The newly written law chapters cover the basic legal concepts and terminology along with laws that impact healthcare.
- The Healthcare Ethics chapter includes updated ethical issues including egg freezing and living donations.
- The Patient Coaching chapter includes an expanded focus on coaching for disease prevention, health maintenance, diagnostic tests, and treatment plans. Coordination of care and navigation are also discussed.
- For the medical specialty content, we included a chapter covering the basics of anatomy and medical terminology. Kinn’s medical specialty chapters focus on medical specialty departments commonly found in medical offices, including a newly added Allergy and Infectious Disease chapter. The new Behavioral Health chapter provides expanded coverage of mental health and substance use disorders.
Why is it important for medical assisting students to learn soft skills before entering the field?
Soft skill development in a medical assistant program is critical to the student’s success in the workplace. Employers expect graduates to have fundamental soft skills at the time of employment. Being professional, incorporating critical thinking skills, showing awareness of other’s concerns, and demonstrating nonverbal communication skills and respect are just some of the soft skills required in a medical assistant.
In Kinn’s, we developed easy-to-use assessment tools for the affective, or soft, skills. Instructors observe the student behaviors demonstrated during a role play or a skill demonstration and can rate the affective behaviors.
How can educators use Kinn’s with Elsevier digital solutions?
Elsevier’s digital solutions complement student learning. For instance, SimChart for the Medical Office (SCMO) can be used with many of the Kinn’s skill procedures. SCMO provides students with the experience of using an electronic health record and practice management software as they accomplish many of the medical assistant administrative and clinical tasks. Other digital solutions, such as Elsevier Adaptive Quizzing (EAQ) and HESI, help with student success in courses and thus help with program retention.
From your personal experience, what is one piece of advice you have for other educators teaching medical assisting?
Student engagement is critical for student success and retention. Keeping your teaching real, relevant, and up to date are important factors when teaching adults. Sharing related stories and focusing assignments on real-life medical assistant tasks will promote student learning.
