Operate x-ray, electrocardiogram (EKG), or other equipment to administer routine diagnostic tests.

“Operate x-ray, electrocardiogram (EKG), or other equipment to administer routine diagnostic tests.” is a core task performed by Medical Assistants. Among the occupation's 20 rated tasks, workers place it 3rd by importance (#18 most important). About 79% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Operate medical equipment. in Controlling Machines and Processes

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T1.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Interview patients to obtain medical information and measure their vital signs, weight, and height. · importance 4.8
• Clean and sterilize instruments and dispose of contaminated supplies. · importance 4.8
• Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records. · importance 4.7
• Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients. · importance 4.7
• Prepare treatment rooms for patient examinations, keeping the rooms neat and clean. · importance 4.7
• Collect blood, tissue, or other laboratory specimens, log the specimens, and prepare them for testing. · importance 4.7
• Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician. · importance 4.6
• Help physicians examine and treat patients, handing them instruments or materials or performing such tasks as giving injections or removing sutures. · importance 4.6
• Perform routine laboratory tests and sample analyses. · importance 4.6
• Greet and log in patients arriving at office or clinic. · importance 4.6
• Perform general office duties, such as answering telephones, taking dictation, or completing insurance forms. · importance 4.5
• Prepare and administer medications as directed by a physician. · importance 4.5
• Authorize drug refills and provide prescription information to pharmacies. · importance 4.4
• Change dressings on wounds. · importance 4.4

See all tasks on the Medical Assistants page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-2043,
  title  = {Operate x-ray, electrocardiogram (EKG), or other equipment to administer routine diagnostic tests.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-2043}
}