By Debbie Ritenour, Vitals contributor
During Medical Assistants Recognition Week (Oct. 21–25), Sutter Health celebrates former medical assistant Kelly Hamamoto’s return to the healthcare system after earning her master’s degree in physician assistant studies.
Kelly Hamamoto joined Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s Los Altos Center as a medical assistant in August 2019 to gain the patient care experience she needed to apply to physician assistant programs. When COVID hit a few months later, the experience she expected became something totally different.
“We weren’t seeing many patients in person anymore, but we were doing COVID testing. One of my co-workers and I volunteered to give results to PAMF patients,” Hamamoto says. “It started off very small. We were only testing 10, maybe 20 people a day. But as the pandemic went on, it got to hundreds, even thousands a day.”
As demand grew, so did the team. Hamamoto helped lead the team and developed a path to provide results. If a patient tested negative, they would send them a message through My Health Online, Sutter’s patient portal. If a patient tested positive, they would call them and schedule a same-day appointment with a clinician, who would walk them through the guidelines and next steps. They also reported all positive results to the California Department of Public Health every day.
“It was a lot of work. There were a lot of six- or seven-day weeks and many late nights,” she says “But it was a good experience for sure.”
Pursuing Her Dream
Hamamoto left the Los Altos Center in June 2021 and entered the Master of Physician Assistant Studies program at Touro University Nevada. She graduated last year and later entered the Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group’s Leading and Uplifting New Clinicians into Healthcare (LAUNCH) program. The program helps recently graduated nurse practitioners and physician assistants transition into their new careers.
As a member of the second class of clinicians in the program, Hamamoto received valuable training and coaching that has helped her hit the ground running as a new physician assistant. She says an on-site physician who answered participants’ questions made all the difference.
“It was a great experience,” Hamamoto says. “As a new grad, you’re nervous about making that transition from being a student to all of a sudden seeing patients on your own. It was definitely very comforting to know that I had somebody to bounce ideas off if I had any questions or wasn’t quite sure about something.”
The three-month LAUNCH program reduces “transition shock,” a phenomenon where new clinicians feel anxious or inexperienced in their roles, responsibilities or knowledge. For Hamamoto, her placement at the end of the program made her transition even easier. She returned to the Los Altos Center, this time as a certified physician assistant, in August.
Back to Her Roots
Dr. Irene Lin
In many ways, it was Hamamoto’s prior experience as a medical assistant at the Los Altos Clinic that set her on the right path in the first place.
“Working there furthered my passion for healthcare,” Hamamoto says. “I found that I really enjoyed talking to and getting to know the patients and helping them with whatever needs they had. I like how you see patients over and over again in primary care and develop that relationship with them.”
PAFMG family physician Dr. Irene Lin says the staff at Los Altos Center welcomed Hamamoto back with open arms.
“She has a really good mindset, which is important in medicine,” says Dr. Lin. “The reality of the job is that it’s constant learning. The medicine that you practice now is going to be different from the medicine you practice in even a few years. It really helps if you have a curiosity and willingness to learn, and Kelly has both of those.”
