Thursday 23 June 2011

Medical Assistant Schools and Courses


Medical assistants are health care providers who perform clinical and administrative tasks to help doctors, podiatrists and other health care representatives.

Job Description:

The role of the medical assistants varies depending upon the location of work, specialty of the practitioner and size of the hospital or clinic. Usually in small practices, the medical assistants have a vast scope of learning many things as they have to look after all the
administrative and clinical tasks. Those who work in large practices, tend to specialize in a specific area under the supervision of the departmental head. A medical assistant should not be compared with a physical assistant who can check the condition of the patients, understand them and treat their health problems accordingly under the supervision of the physician or doctor.

Medical Assistant Courses:

Depending upon the employer, the medical assistants can go for administrative, clerical or clinical training programs. There are three types of medical assistant courses available for aspirants looking for a career as medical assistants- Diploma, certification or associates. There are many types of medical assistant schools which offer medical assistant courses such as post secondary vocational schools, vocational technical high school/s, junior and community colleges. Most of the medical assistant schools offer a one year postsecondary programs which either last for 1 year and result in a certificate or diploma, or 2 years and result in an associate degree. These courses from medical assistant schools cover a lot of different topics like medical terminology, physiology, anatomy along with insurance processing, keyboarding, transcription, accounting and record keeping. Medical assisting schools also train their students in clinical and diagnostic procedures, administration of medications, laboratory techniques, first aid, medical law and ethics, patient relations and office practices. As almost everything depend upon the medical assisting school, it is very essential to choose a right medical assisting school that can train you in everything that is essential for a medical assistant to succeed in his/her job.

Certification for medical assistants:


There are two accrediting bodies that certify the medical assistants. They are Association of Medical Technologists (AMT) and American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). Depending upon the association, the process of certification will vary. These entities also help the medical assistants to get certified in a particular specialty such as optometry, ophthalmology or podiatry. Though it is not mandatory that a medical assistant has to be certified, however certification indicates that that a medical assistant has met the certain standards of knowledge and it also opens up many
opportunities of employment in different medical institutions.

Job Prospects:

Medical assistants also have a flexibility to advance into other occupations through additional training along with experience. For example administrative medical assistants may advance to office managers and some may pursue additional education to become nurses and other health-care workers. Some may choose to go on to teaching field and give training in medical assisting.

More than 100,000 jobs are held by medical assistants by the end of the year 2010. Almost 65 percent are working in the offices of physicians, 15 percent are working in private and public hospitals and 20 percent are working in offices of other health practitioners. Employment is projected to grow with more than average speed ranking medical assistants as fastest growing occupation by the end of this decade. Job opportunities will be excellent especially for those who are certified by accrediting bodies AMT
and AAMA.

Salary:

The salaries of the medical assistants typically depend upon three factors.

1. Experience
2. Skill
3. Location of the practice

Though, it is not possible to estimate the exact salary of a medical assistant, it can be approximately be between $19,851 to $40,564 depending upon above parameters along with few other minor factors.

5 comments:

  1. Also, as you may be spending a lot of time there, don’t forget to look at things like student lounges and other student services. You can find hidden savings if the school has a well equip cafeteria, or you can cut your gym membership and use the student workout. medical assistant school

    ReplyDelete

  2. Medical assistants are increasing in number not just because MAs are
    trained to handle many different tasks. The real reason why they are
    important to a practice is because they provide emotional support and
    the "human touch" in a medical environment. They put people at ease
    at the doctor's office. Physicians are busy people and patients are
    often afraid of asking them "silly" questions even when they do not
    fully understand the medical terminologies that the doctor uses. MAs
    help bridge the communication gap between doctors and patients which
    is why Medical assistants are in high demand.


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