Medical Assistant Degree Programs

If you are considering a career in medical assisting, you have made a great choice. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that medical assisting will be one of the fastest growing professions over the next decade. As our medical facilities and doctor’s practices expand to keep pace with our aging population, they will need more and more medical assistants. That where you come in—but ONLY if you are well trained.

True, you do not need to have any formal education to work as a medical assistant—but having a degree will help you to remain competitive throughout your career.

Types of Medical Assistant Degree Programs

Though some employers still train their medical assistants, this practice is becoming rare. Today, the most employable medical assistants are those with formal training in the field.

If you would like to become a medical assistant, you can choose between three different degree programs—diploma, certificate, or associates. Junior and community colleges, technical schools, and high school vocational programs offer these degree programs.

Diploma and Certificate Programs

You can complete a diploma or a certificate degree in medical assisting within one year. These degree programs are so quick because they have few, or no, liberal arts requirements.

These programs are designed to give you practical training in medical assisting. All of your courses, therefore, are geared toward the actual job requirements of a medical assistant.

But that doesn’t mean that the courses are narrow or easy.

Medical assistants have very malleable job descriptions. Depending on the requirements of their employers, medical assistants can focus on straight clerical tasks (such as greeting patients and sorting mail) or actually assisting the doctor (such as preparing patients for examinations and calling in prescriptions to pharmacies). Many medical assistants do both PLUS perform clinical tasks such as giving injections.

Diploma and certificate degree programs reflect the wide range of duties that a medical assistant may (or may not) be required to perform.

Expect your training to include broad-based courses in administrative tasks such as typing, filing, and telephone etiquette. Expect to also have intensive courses in anatomy, biology, and health to prepare you for the clinical side of the job. Finally, you can expect—in most schools—to complete an externship at an established medical facility or doctor’s office to give you hands-on experience working as a medical assistant.

Associate’s Degree Programs

Associate degree programs—typically offered in junior or community colleges—run two full years.

They offer everything that diploma and certificate degree programs offer, but the training is more indepth. Also a substantial amount of general education requirements are included in your training.

Before You Apply. . .

Whatever degree option you choose, make sure that the school is accredited through either 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—an increasing requirement of employers these days—you must have graduated from a medical assistant school that has been accredited through one of these agencies.