Medical assistant courses are as varied as is the career itself. Depending on the employer, medical assistants may either concentrate on clerical, administrative, or clinical tasks—or a combination of all three. Medical assistant course, therefore, are equally wide-ranging.

Medical Assistant Degree Programs

There are three types of degree programs offered to those who are interested in a medical assistant career—diploma, certificate, or associates.

Diploma and certificate programs are generally offered through trade and vocational schools or through junior and community colleges. Since they focus primarily on preparing you to assume the duties of a medical assistant, their courses cover only those subjects that you may need to use in your new career.

Associate degree programs, by contrast, have a substantial amount of general education requirements that you must take in addition to your medical assisting classes. Because of this added coursework—and broader education—an associate’s degree program runs for two years.

What Medical Assisting Courses Will You Take?

Think variety.

To fulfill the clerical part of being a medical assistant, your courses may include:

• Typing
• Filing
• Phone etiquette
• Customer service

To fulfill the administrative part of being a medical assistant, your courses may include:

• Medical Ethics
• Doctor/Patient Confidentiality
• Bookkeeping
• Medical Law
• Patient record keeping
• Medical Terminology

To fulfill the clinical part of being a medical assistant, your courses may include:

• Physiology
• Health
• Anatomy
• Medical Terminology
• First Aid
• Pharmaceutical Procedures
• Clinical Procedures
• CPR
• Pharmacology

Completing an Externship

Completing an externship program is an essential part of most medical assisting programs.

There is a vast different between classroom learning and real world experience. Externship programs are designed to give you the experience of actually being a medical assistant while you are still a student.

During your externship, you will work as an actual medical assistant in an established hospital, doctor’s office, clinic, or other medical facility. You will work side-by-side with real medical assistants as they perform all of their daily functions. You will be able to look, learn, and listen to everything that happens in a medical facility. You will even be able to DO many of these tasks yourself.

Participating in an externship program for medical assisting is a wonderful way for you experience the joys (and responsibilities) of this profession while you are still a student.

But participating in an externship program holds another advantage—upon graduation you can use your externship experience to promote your skills to prospective employers.

How to Use Your Medical Assisting Courses to Get a Job

But your extenship is not the only course that you can (or should) put on your resume. By the time that you have graduated from a medical assistant program, you have taken so many other courses that would make you a valuable asset to any medical facility.

Make sure prospective employers know about them.

List individual courses on your resume that might pertain to the exact job requirements of the position that you are seeking.
Mention certain impressive courses, along with your grades in each, in your cover letter to prospective employers.

Promote your medical assistant courses and watch the job offers roll in.