A medical assistant is a person who works in the in-patient and out-patient care setting and some speciality areas. They help with administrative and clinical support tasks during patient exams and procedures.
An associate degree or one to two years of training from an accredited program is required for most entry-level jobs as a medical assistant. Experience working in a health care setting may also be needed. And to ensure that we provided you with all the correct details, we took the help of team MedAssistantEdu in creating this article.
Types of Medical Assistants:
• Administrative Medical Assistant: helps keep records, screens patients, handles billing and scheduling, performs clerical duties such as typing, filing or bookkeeping using appropriate software applications.
• Clinical Medical Assistant: assists with examinations and treatments. Helps prepare rooms and equipment by setting up instruments and materials. May also collect and prepare laboratory specimens, help with basic lab tests and prepare samples for examination under a microscope.
• Surgical Medical Assistant: helps prepare the patient for surgery by taking blood pressure, temperature, or other necessary measurements. Assists with scrubbing for surgery from the patient’s point of view, passing surgical instruments as directed by the surgeon, suctioning drainage from the incision, holding retractors, and closing incisions at the end of the operation.
• Podiatry Medical Assistant: assists podiatrists in offices or clinics where procedures include trimming toenails and removing corns, calluses and infections. Prepares patients’ feet by washing them thoroughly before each practice.
Occupational Requirements For Medical Assistants:
• Good manual dexterity and good physical condition.
• Cost-conscious: trained to help keep operating costs down by following proper procedures and safety, security and equipment maintenance standards while preventing accidents.
• Detail oriented: helps doctors focus on patients by handling administrative tasks such as filing charts and entering databases.
• Team player: works with patients, co-workers, and others professionally; takes direction from supervisors.
• Compassionate: focuses on the patient’s comfort during exams or procedures; may be required to give bad news about test results or diagnoses sensitively.
• Ability to learn multiple tasks quickly: must have the capacity for fast learning in new situations because work may involve different procedures and technologies.
• Ability to communicate information and ideas effectively with others: health care settings include many people, so medical assistants must convey information clearly and work well as part of a team.
• Good hand-eye coordination: quick reaction time is essential when taking blood pressure or other measurements that require attention to detail.
Medical Assistants primary duties:
• Greet patients and make them feel comfortable
• Explain medical procedures to the patient
• Take a patient’s health history and give an exam.
• May take x-rays, draw blood or remove sutures after surgery
• Keep records accurate and up to date.
• Keep medical staff members informed of patients’ conditions or changes that need to be made in treatment plans.
• Clean and sterilize equipment and dispose of contaminated supplies.
• Prepare patient rooms, make beds, clean bathrooms/showers, dust furniture, empty trash.
• May order laboratory specimens for tests, prepare slides or help with basic lab tests.
• May help take blood pressure or other vital signs.
• Assist doctor by passing instruments as directed during procedures such as surgery.
• Prepare materials for use by the doctor, such as gloves and drapes during exams and check they are within the expiry date.
• Help keep costs down: trainee medical assistants may shadow more experienced assistants to learn the ropes but must also take on some tasks for which they are trained.
• May have to contact patients with test results or to remind them of appointments.
• Prepare equipment and maintain supplies inventory.
Job Requirements For Medical Assistants:
To become a medical assistant requires education of course work along with certification.
Education requirements can vary by state, so it is advised you find out what the specific requirements are in your area before applying for a job.
In many states, official certification from either The American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) or the CMA (AAMA), National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), may be required. To sit for these exams, there
How To Earn A Certificate Or Degree For Medical Assistant Roles:
After completing high school/secondary school, students may enrol in an accredited two-year program offering an associate degree or certificate after completing high school/secondary school. Alternatively, they can choose to start working in the field first and then pursue training later.
Medical assistant courses cover general education subjects such as math, English, biology, and physiology and specialized coursework that teaches administrative and clinical tasks specific to the profession.
Medical Assistant Salary:
• The median annual wage for medical assistants was $31,540 in May 2015.
• Employment of medical assistants is projected to grow 31 per cent from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations.
