Major: Medical Assisting
That nice person who escorts you into the examining room, takes your vital signs and asks how long you’ve had that nasty cough may seem like a nurse -- but is she? More than likely, she’s a medical assistant, a job that falls somewhere between receptionist and nurse.
Whether you get a certificate or an associate’s degree, as a medical assisting student you’ll learn how to straddle the fence between administrative and clinical tasks. These tasks include everything from running basic tests to keeping precise medical records. If you see yourself answering phones with one hand and collecting blood samples with the other, this program may be for you.
Students of medical assisting learn how to help doctors with basic administrative and clinical tasks.
Did You Know?
- This field is red-hot: the U.S. Department of Labor expects medical assisting to be one of the fastest-growing occupations through 2014.
Are You Ready To...?
- Practice giving shots
- Build a medical vocabulary
- Work in a doctor’s office as part of your training
- Study for the national certification exam
- Become a student member of the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA)
It Helps to Be...
A people person who can put others at ease: medical assistants do a lot of handholding. An interest in medicine is vital.
College Checklist
- Is the program approved by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs(CAAHEP) or the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES)?
- Will the program prepare you for the national certification exam?
- Are specialization areas offered, such as medical insurance billing?
- Will you have an opportunity to do an internship in a physician’s office, ambulatory care center, or other health-care facility?
- What are recent grads doing now?
- Will the program help you find work after graduation?
Did You Know?
- Medical assisting dates back to an earlier nursing shortage -- during World War II -- when doctors began training their secretaries to fill in for nurses who left to work in hospitals.
Course Spotlight
The big picture will come into view in your introductory medical-assisting class. In this class, you’ll get acquainted with a huge range of administrative functions, from filing medical records and insurance claim forms to maintaining a petty cash fund. You’ll also learn the ethics and other basic principals of the medical professions. To top it off, you’ll work on your professional demeanor, brushing up on good habits like phone manners.
Group assignments will likely count as part of your grade, which makes sense. Becoming a good medical assistant means building excellent people skills.
