Become A Medical Assistant

Owing to advances in medical technology and a growing population of elderly people in need of medical care, the demand for medical assistants is increasing. Medical assistants are the allied health care practitioners who are trained to assist in a wide variety of clinical and laboratory procedures, as well as for administrative roles. They are the crucial members of a health care team who perform various significant tasks like measuring vital signs, performing lab tests, greeting patients and scheduling appointments.

Medical Assistant Education

To become a medical assistant, you can take up formal education from vocational or technical institutes, community and junior colleges or online educational programs. Though formal education is not required, however most employers prefer graduates of formal programs. To become certified medical assistants it is important that the medical assistant training curriculum is accredited. Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) and the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES) accredit medical assisting programs. Accredited programs include an internship that allows students to have practical experience in physicians’ offices, hospitals, or other health care facilities.

A Medical Assistant Program consists of certificate or diploma courses over a 1 to 3 year period. A high school diploma or the equivalent is required to apply for the program, If you plan to become a medical assistant the recommended high school courses include math, health, biology, bookkeeping, computers and office skills. The course includes anatomy, physiology, and medical terminology, as well as typing, transcription, record keeping, accounting, and insurance processing, laboratory techniques, clinical and diagnostic procedures, pharmaceutical principles, the administration of medications, and first aid. The students are also taught office practices, patient relations, medical law, and ethics as they communicate with a wide variety of people like doctors, nurses, patients, medical billing staff, insurance representatives and pharmacists. Some medical assistant classes can be taken online.

Duties and Responsibilities

When you become a medical assistant, your primary responsibility is to ensure that the administrative and clinical tasks are running smoothly. Medical assistants are different from physician assistants who examine, diagnose and treat patients under supervision of a physician. The duties of medical assistants vary according to the practitioner's specialty. For a small practitioner, the assistant would just work as generalists handling administrative and clinical tasks and reporting directly to the practitioner.

For specialty practitioner, the assistants tend to specialize in a particular area. Ophthalmic medical assistants and podiatric medical assistants are examples of specialized assistants who have additional duties. Podiatric medical assistants make castings of feet, expose and develop x-rays, and assist in podiatrists in surgery. Ophthalmic Medical Assistants assist ophthalmologists in providing medical eye care; conduct diagnostic tests, measure and record vision, and test eye muscle function.

The administrative duties of a medical assistant includes answering telephones, greeting the patients, filing insurance forms, fixing appointments, handling billing and bookkeeping and arranging laboratory services. The clinical duties include recording patient's medical history, explaining treatment procedures to patients, preparing patients for examination, collecting and preparing laboratory specimen, taking basic laboratory tests, sterilizing instruments. Also, the medical assistants instruct the patients about medications and special diets and authorize drug fills as directed, prepare patients for x-rays and change dressings.

Medical Assistant Employment

Medical assistants can find jobs in physician offices, nursing homes, clinics, hospitals and emergency rooms. The jobs for medical assistants would be on a rise with the expansion of the health care industry and technological advancements. Medical assistants find well paid employment in number of group practices, clinics, health care facilities that require personnel support. If you have formal training or practical experience in the field then there are good job prospects for you as a medical assistant.

Georgia Medical Institute is one of many Medical Assistant Schools offering Medical Assistant training. Please check with them directly for accurate information.