Becoming a Medical Assistant

How many of these qualities would you like to experience in your next job?

• Variety of duties
• Plenty of contact with people
• Good income
• 40-hour work week with regular dayshift hours
• Job security

If you said yes to most of these, congratulations…you just chose a medical assistant career.

What is a Medical Assistant?

Simply put, medical assistants perform any function that helps a physician’s office or other medical facility to run smoothly.

They can—and often do—perform both administrative and clinical duties.

Some of the administrative duties of a medical assistant include:

• Answering phones
• Sorting mail
• Greeting patients
• Billing
• Bookkeeping
• Filing
• Computer data entry

Depending on individual state laws, some of the duties of clinical medical assistants include:

• Scheduling hospital admissions
• Drawing blood
• Preparing patients for medical examinations
• Administering electrocardiograms
• Explaining test results to patients
• Sterilizing medical equipment
• Calling in prescriptions to pharmacies

Some medical assistants focus on clerical and administrative tasks, some focus on clinical tasks, and some focus on both.

Generally, smaller medical practices may require you to perform both administrative and clinical duties. Large medical centers, however, may give you the opportunity to specialize in the clinical part of your profession.

How Do I Become a Medical Assistant?

Some employers train their medical assistants, but this practice is becoming more and more rare. Most of today’s medical assistants receive some form of formal training in this field. Not only will such training increase their knowledge and abilities in medical assisting, but it will also keep them competitive in a field that is continually expanding.

There are three types of training programs for medical assistants—diploma, certificate, and associate’s degrees.

• Diploma and Certificate degrees can be completed within one year. They offer a curriculum that is totally job specific and is designed to prepare you for the actual job of medical assisting. Because they are so focused on the skills of the job, they have few (or no) general educational requirements. You may also have to complete an externship program.

The advantage of diploma and certificate degree programs is their short duration and their job specific coursework.

• Associate’s degree programs last for 2-years and offer a significant amount of general education requirements—such as History and English—in addition to courses that directly apply to medical assisting.

The advantage of associate’s degree programs is the broad education that it offers you. This added education could make you more valuable to employers than are those who have only diploma or certificate degrees.

Check with your local junior or community college, high school vocational school, or trade school to see what kind of medical assisting programs that they offer.

The Importance of Choosing an Accredited School

Whatever medical assistant training program that you choose, make sure that the school or program has been accredited by one of two organizations—the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) or the Accreditation Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES).

If you choose to become certified upon graduation—an increasing requirement of employers—your school needs to be accredited by one of these organizations.

After Graduation

After you graduate from medical assistant school, you should consider becoming certified. Although not a requirement to work as a medical assistant, certification can make you more employable. Achieving certification tells prospective employers that you are well trained in the medical assistant field.

To become a certified medical assistant, you must pass the Certification/Recertification Examination administered by the American Associated of Medical Assistants (AAMA). You can check out their website for more information about becoming certified and to apply to take the exam.