Work with doctors without Med School: the many forms of Medical Assisting

Do you love watching Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs, or ER (regardless of whether George Clooney is acting or not)?

Do you find satisfaction from the precision required to pull a splinter out of a friend’s toe, enjoy cleaning and bandaging a roommate’s cut finger?

Does the thought of medical school sound like financial (and social) suicide?

Then perhaps you should look into a medical assisting job!

WHAT IS MEDICAL ASSISTING?

Medical assistants perform a range of administrative and clinical tasks in offices of physicians, podiatrists, chiropractors, and other health practitioners. Unlike Physician assistants (who can examine, diagnose, and treat patients with physician supervision), medical assistant duties vary from office to office.

AREAS OF MEDICAL ASSISTING

Administrative tasks of medical assistants can take on many forms, from updating patients’ medical records to scheduling hospital admissions to filling out insurance forms. For clinical medical assistants, responsibilities vary by State law, but usually consist of taking medical histories, recording vital signs, explaining treatment procedures to patients and preparing them for examinations, and assisting physicians during examinations. As a medical assistant, you might also perform basic laboratory tests on the premises, teach patients about medications or special diets, authorize drug refills to a pharmacy, draw blood, prepare patients for x-rays, and/or remove sutures.

PERKS

Since there is currently a regular demand, medical assistants can rely on stable hours and well-lit, clean environments. Most full-time medical assistants work a regular 40-hour week. Some may elect to work part-time, evenings, or weekends. Recession, who?

THE BACON YOU’LL BRING HOME

Depending on experience, skill level, and location, earnings of medical assistants vary. Below are the median annual earnings in the most popular locations of medical assisting (May 2006 data):

(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Do you get woozy at the sight of blood? If not, keep reading.

MEDICAL ASSISTANT EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Most medical assistants complete 1-year or 2-year programs, and most do on-the-job training after that. Postsecondary medical assisting programs lasting 1 year result in a certificate or diploma, 2 years results in an associate degree. One can expect medical assisting courses to cover everything from anatomy and medical terminology to accounting and insurance processing. Students learn laboratory techniques, diagnostic procedures, pharmaceutical principles, medication administration, and first aid. Accredited medical assisting programs often include an internship that provides practical experience in real-world settings.

Some states even allow medical assistants to perform more advanced procedures, such as giving injections, after passing a test or taking a course. There are some programs that are offered online.

TYPICAL PERSONALITY TRAITS OF MEDICAL ASSISTANTS

Medical assistants deal with patients, therefore, they must be presentable, pleasant, be able to put patients at ease, follow physician instructions, and multi-task well. Also, blabbermouths need not apply, or at least be aware: patient confidentiality is a huge liability.

For all intensive purposes, job outlook in medical assisting is excellent, a workforce expected to grow 35% by 2016!

For more information visit www.mycollegesandcareers.com to get more information.