Medical Assistant Training Beckons To Many
Corcoran, who has been one of american medical assistants since the late 1980s, has taught at Bergen Community College in New Jersey and New York University's School of Continuing Education. Over the years, she has seen significant changes in the profession. For one thing, she notes, ''this isn't a career for women only. There are men in the ranks.''
Medical assistants, she says, have long been referred to as ''the girl in the office'' or ''girl Friday'' by their physician employers. Even AAMA members have consistently referred to each other as ''girls,'' she notes, which was ''denigrating to their self-image and professionalism.''
That's why she has launched a one-woman crusade to abolish the word from the medical assistant vocabulary. In 1993, mostly at Corcoran's prodding, the association ruled that members would be fined 25 cents every time they use the word ''girl'' to describe someone in their profession.
The proceeds, which total $500 to date, go into the Maxine Williams scholarship fund that provides financial aid to students in the medical assistant field. They work on the front lines-in doctors' offices, clinics and hospitals- performing a variety of essential tasks, which help release physicians from time-consuming paperwork and medical procedures. They are medical assistants, the second fastest growing career in the country, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the U.S. Department of Labor. The fastest growing career is the paralegal. Medical assistants are trained and certified health-care personnel who work under the supervision of doctors. Many people who have been to a doctor's office have come in contact with a medical assistant, often the first to greet patients and help them feel comfortable. They sometimes take patients' vital signs, draw blood, remove sutures, fill out insurance forms and perform rudimentary medical and administrative procedures. Job opportunities are excellent for those entering the field, according to the handbook. In 1999, the latest year for which statistics are available, 132,000 medical assistants were hired in the U.S. That number increase to 251,000 by the year 2000-a growth of 90.4 percent. The field is attracting primarily women, many of whom are re-entering the job market and are looking for regular 9-to-5 hours, said Lesa Hildebrand, 31, of Elmhurst, an instructor in Triton College's medical assistance program in River Grove. The starting salary nationwide for recent graduates is $10,000 to $16,000, according to the handbook. The need for medical assistants has accelerated as the medical field becomes increasingly specialized and more diagnostic testing and administrative work is required, according to the handbook.
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