Get your foot in the door of one of the leading industries in the country - healthcare - by going back to school to earn a degree as a medical assistant. Those in such a position are responsible for efficiently running an office while also performing critical clinical duties.
Role of a Medical Assistant
In this role, you are often tasked with both administrative and clinical duties. You'll be in charge of initiating and updating new records for patients, filling out insurance forms and arranging for patients to visit other offices to undergo certain procedures. You may also be responsible for greeting patients, answering phones, scheduling appointments and handling the billing and bookkeeping. Keeping the doctors and nurses on track as well as assisting patients to make their visits are as comfortable as possible will also be just a few of the top priorities on your list.
Clinical activities can include recording vital information and easing the minds of patients by explaining upcoming procedures to them. You may also collect and prepare laboratory specimens. You may also need to assist the physician in minor office procedures, draw blood, remove stitches, and change a patient's wound dressings as well as prep them for x-rays. Medical assistants may also take and develop x-rays if he or she obtains a Limited Scope X-Ray Operators Certification through the state that he or she is employed in.
Career Trajectory
It's easy to see why this field is gaining recognition - in the next eight years the number of medical assistant positions is expected to jump 34 percent (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008). Additionally, those who earn a medical degree often find that their options are limitless, as they're now equipped with some of the necessary tools to move up within the medical field if they choose to do so in the future.
About the Author: This article was written by Lynn Skafte, the National Medical Assisting Coordinator for Rasmussen College. She has served the college as a instructor for three years, and now oversees the College’s medical assisting degree program.
Comments (4)
Great post! - Medical assistance pa
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Medical Assistant Career - Opening doors to a profession in healthcare services.
Medical Assistant careers are gathering demand in the background of a healthcare industry boom worldwide.
A Medical Assistant essentially is a healthcare professional with multiple responsibilities and skill sets required to execute the same. Both administrative and medical tasks that do not need much medical proficiency fall into the ambit of a Medical Assistant.
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Medical Assistants and EMR - Southeastern EMR
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