Medical assisting is one career field where certified graduates are in demand. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, medical assistant jobs are expected to grow by 34 percent from 2008 through 2018, making the MA field a career opportunity that can accommodate many new graduates.
What is a Medical Assistant?
Medical assistants are certified health care workers who handle a variety of tasks in accordance with physicians, nurses, lab workers and other medical staff in a variety of settings, including:
- hospitals
- private practice
- nursing homes
- rehabilitation centers
- schools
- military facilities
- clinics
and more. Essential to the proper functioning of any medical facility, a MA helps with office and clerical routines and procedures, but also assists with the clinical side of an office's functioning as well. Therefore, medical assistants need to be versatile; shifting from administrative duties such as health insurance paperwork processing, to cleaning and setting up an exam room for a specific procedure.
Training for Medical Assisting Jobs
Most MA programs are one to two years in length, with curriculum that includes general education courses such as:
- Psychology
- Math
- English
- Writing
- Computer Literacy
and then very detailed, career-specific courses in:
- Clinical procedures
- Administrative procedures
- Lab procedures
- Pharmacy and dosing
- Transcription
- Anatomy and Physiology
Standard medical assistant certification programs prepare you for certification through the American Association of Medical Assistants, or AAMA. Whether you enroll in a two-year associate degree or one-year certificate program, any school you attend should prepare you to take the certification exam offered by the AAMA to become CMA (AAMA), which is the notation of certification offered through the AAMA.
CMA (AAMA) is not the only form of certification, though. Three other medical assistant accreditation/certification groups offer medical assistant certification:
- American Medical Technologists -- provides the Registered Medical Technologist certification
- National Health Career Association -- offers two distinct certifications, the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant for those working in clinical, hand-on patient care; and the Certified Medical Administrative Assistant, for those MAs who work with clerical and administrative procedures in a medical setting.
- National Center for Competency Testing -- tests for a National Certified Medical Assistant designation.
Before enrolling in a college or school, ask the admissions representative which form of certification most graduates achieve. If you have a specific employer in mind, learn which certification of licensure that employer prefers, and then make education decisions accordingly.
Resources:
United States Department of Labor. Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011. Medical Assistants. Accessed October 12, 2011.
Melanie Zoltan - Melanie Zoltan is a former college professor and administrator who has written for About.com, PCWorld, Brain Child, Thomson Gale, and ...
Comments