If you are interested in medicine, love to help people, and excel under pressure, you may want to consider becoming a clinical medical assistant.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, medical assistant (in general) is one of the fastest growing occupations. But there is also an increasing need for clinical medical assistants who have the skills necessary to directly administer medical assistance. There are many reasons for this.

Our population is ageing and is living longer, and this has forced the need for more medical centers, doctor’s offices, and hospitals to treat them. Further, gains in cancer research have produced new techniques to treat this disease, which has opened the door to more medical facilities—and for more medical assistants.

What is a Clinical Medical Assistant?

A clinical medical assistant works closely with patients, and physicians, in administering medical services. (But unlike physician’s assistants, they do not examine and help diagnose patient medical conditions.) Their jobs are limited to assisting with medical procedures—but this can cover a wide range of duties.

Depending on applicable state laws, a medical assistant can:

• Schedule medical procedures
• Draw blood
• Take patient medical histories
• Update patient medical files
• Take blood pressure and body temperatures
• Administer electrocardiograms
• Instruct patients on proper usage of medications
• Schedule hospital admissions
• Phone in prescriptions to various pharmacies
• Change the dressing on wounds and even removing sutures
• Collect lab specimens
• Sterilize medical instruments
• Prepare patients for ex-rays

…and a host of other duties.

Where Do Clinical Medical Assistants Work?

As a clinical medical assistant, you can work in private medical practices, hospitals, medical clinics, and other medical facilities.

If you work in a small medical practice, your job duties will likely be broader than are those of clinical assisting. Besides your clinical tasks, for example, you may answer phones, greet patients, schedule appointments, and file.

If you want to focus more on the clinical side of medical assisting, your best bet is to get a job in a hospital or a big city clinic. Bigger medical facilities—those found in bigger cities—offer you the best opportunities to specialize in the clinical side of medical assisting.

Training

Clinical medical assistants receive the same comprehensive training as is offered to all medical assistants.

Although some medical assistants receive on-the-job training, most complete formal training programs—such as diploma, certificate, or associate’s degrees—in medical assisting.

While in school, you can expect your coursework to include:

• Biology
• Anatomy
• Health
• Pharmacology
• Medical Terminology
• CPR

In addition to administrative courses such as:

• Bookkeeping
• Computers
• Office Procedures
• Medical Ethics

Training programs for medical assistants are designed to cover the wide variety of tasks that you may—or may not—be required to use. What particular medical facility that you choose to work in determines your exact role within the organization.

What Do You Need to be a Good Clinical Medical Assistant?

In order to be a good clinical medical assistant, you must have—first and foremost—a love for the medical field and of performing medical procedures. But there are a few other qualities that would make you a good, or better, clinical medical assistant:

• A scientific mind. Medicine is a very analytical profession. Your coursework in medical assistant school, therefore, will include a lot of science courses.
• An aptitude for administering medical treatments. Did you become certified in CPR while in high school? Did you love biology class, particularly when you had to dissect frogs? Have you always been one of the first to offer Band-Aids and splints to the injured? Can you make an awesome tourniquet? If so, you will probably love being a clinical medical assistant.