How Quickly Can I Become a Medical Assistant?

You already know that you want to work in the medical field, but you’re worried it will involve an excessive amount of training that may take years to complete. If you’re looking for a rewarding medical career that you can jump into quickly, then you should strongly consider becoming a medical assistant.

What is a Medical Assistant?

As a medical assistant, you will work directly with doctors and patients performing a multitude of administrative and clinical tasks

Examples of clinical tasks include taking medical histories, recording vital signs, preparing patients for their exams, and assisting the doctor during the exam.

Examples of administrative tasks involve answering phones, scheduling appointments, arranging for hospital admission and laboratory services, updating and filing patients’ medical records, medical billing and coding, etc.

How Long are Medical Assistant Programs?

Training to become a medical assistant is relatively short compared to those of other healthcare careers. Athena Career Academy’s CMA program involves approximately 800 hours of study over a 7 ½ month time period, plus an additional 6-week externship. Students will spend 640 hours in the classroom and lab, along with 160 hours of externship experience in which the student will get to put their training and skills to use in a real-life working environment, as they observe and work closely with the physician and health care team.

What Can I Expect to Learn in a Medical Assistant Program?

Courses will vary depending on which medical assistant program you choose. Classes taught at Athena include the fundamentals of medical assisting, anatomy and physiology, medical terminology, psychological aspect of patient care, CPR, first aid, and emergency care.

Why Become a Medical Assistant?

In addition to taking less time to complete than other healthcare career programs, there are so many great reasons to choose a career as a medical assistant.

Job Variety Keeps Things Exciting

As a medical assistant, you will likely never be bored! That’s because you will take on so many different roles as an MA, as well as constantly learning new skills and tasks.

Schedules are More Predictable

One big perk of becoming an MA is the hours are often more predictable and stable than those of other healthcare professionals. Medical assistants usually work in medical clinics with regular 9 to 5 type of hours than those who work in a hospital or long-term facility that requires 24-hour shifts.

Room for Advancement

Medical assisting can be an excellent launching point into other healthcare careers, especially since medical assistants have such a wide range of skills and a solid background in healthcare which will serve them well in practically any profession they may choose to explore.

Career Field is Stable

The job outlook for an MA looks very promising as the need for medical assistants is growing faster than average compared to other occupations.

Are You Ready to Become a Medical Assistant?

Deciding to enroll in school to embark on a new career path is a big decision and having some reservations or doubts is a natural reaction. You want to feel confident that you’re making the right choice before investing time, money, and effort into a program. However, you can rest assured that choosing to become a medical assistant is an excellent career choice and one you can feel confident about.

Contact Athena Career Academy today to find out how you can be well on your way to becoming a certified medical assistant much sooner than you ever thought possible.