What is Being a Medical Assistant Like?

It’s no wonder that more and more people want to learn everything they can about a medical assisting career, as it doesn’t take very long to go through the training program. It’s truly a rewarding and fulfilling career with plenty of growth potential.

What is a Medical Assistant?

Medical assistants are healthcare professionals who work alongside physicians, primarily in outpatient and ambulatory facilities, such as medical offices and clinics.

What Does a Medical Assistant Do?

Medical assistant duties and responsibilities vary depending on the size, location, and specialty of the practice, but most MA’s are cross trained to perform a wide variety of clinical and administrative duties.

Some of these clinical and administrative duties might include:

Clinical Duties:

· Preparing patients for examinations.

· Assisting physicians during patient exams.

· Taking patient vital signs.

· Changing dressings and removing sutures.

· Drawing blood and collecting lab specimens.

· Helping patients understand medical treatments.

Administrative Duties:

· Greeting patients.

· Answering telephones and scheduling appointments.

· Arranging patients for hospital admissions.

· Arranging for lab services.

· Entering and updating patient charts.

· Filling out insurance forms.

Where do Medical Assistants Work?

While medical assistants can choose to work in a variety of settings, the most common workplace for an MA is a clinic or physician’s office. This can be a major benefit for many MA’s who prefer a more traditional work week, or Monday thru Friday, 9-5 type of hours.

Medical assistants aren’t limited to physician’s offices though. Here are some examples of alternative workplaces to consider:

· Chiropractic offices

· Specialty clinics

· Hospitals

· Diagnostic laboratories

· Insurance carriers

· Nursing care facilities

· Hospice

· In home care

· Prisons and juvenile facilities

· Weight loss clinics

· Universities and colleges

· Medical research centers

· Birthing centers

What is the Job Outlook for Medical Assisting?

The job outlook for medical assistants is very strong and continues to grow at a rate much faster than the national average for all occupations. Keep in mind that job opportunities are much greater for those individuals with the proper medical assistant certification who have completed an approved training program and obtained certification.

How Can You Become a Medical Assistant?

The training to become a medical assistant isn’t as difficult as you might think. The minimum requirement to begin training for a career as a medical assistant is a high school diploma or equivalent. Many programs have their own specific requirements and may have prerequisites prior to enrolling or prior to the start of the program.

Start your career off right with Athena Career Academy. We offer training to become a certified medical assistant and our program is specifically designed to prepare students for careers in medical assisting by teaching all of the specific skills necessary to obtain employment as a confident and knowledgeable certified medical assistant. Contact us today for more information about upcoming classes and our flexible class schedules.