Medical Assistant Training And Opportunities
Experienced medical assistants can make $75,000 or more a year helping to run a doctor's office, and openings are expected to top 150,000, according to the American Association of Medical Assistants. From the moment you enter a doctor's office until you depart, medical assistants make your visit easier and free the doctor's time for concentration on you, the association notes in its leaflet, ''Medical Assisting: Today's Career for Tomorrow's Rewards.''
The work done by a medical assistant is varied. The person who greets you when you walk in the door is a medical assistant, as is the person who takes blood for a test or helps prepare you for an examination. Even the billing clerk is usually a medical assistant.
To prepare for such a career, a high school student should take courses in secretarial skills, communications and human relations, as well as biology and physical sciences. After graduation, a one- or two-year course in an accredited institution will include training in anatomy, physiology, medical terminology, pharmacology and laboratory procedures. If that sounds like mini-preparation for a medical degree, in some ways, it is. According to AAMA President Margaret Corcoran, some have used the job of medical assistant as a stepping stone to medical school and even law school. Medical assistants' salaries generally are on a par with those of other office workers, Corcoran reports, and the field is especially promising for someone who is entering or re-entering the job market later in life. Once established, she says, the ambitious and conscientious medical assistant can anticipate advancement. ''A medical assistant,'' according to Corcoran, is ''by definition a professional multi-skilled person who assists in all aspects of the medical practice ...'' The typical work day for a medical assistant begins early. Before the doctor or the patients arrive, assistants review scheduled appointments and organize patient files. Aside from checking in patients and scheduling future appointments, assistants test blood pressures, pulse rates and temperatures. At the end of the day, accounts must be posted and patient files updated. Emergency phone calls are not uncommon, and medical assistants must decide quickly if a chest pain sounds severe enough to warrant a trip to the hospital or if the doctor should be interrupted to talk to the parent of a sick child. The new breed of medical assistant, Corcoran reports, is the C.M.A. or certified medical assistant. Of the current 500,000 medical assistants, more than 40,000 hold a C.M.A., which is awarded to individuals who pass a test indicating certain standards of competence have been met.
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