What Does a Medical Assistant Do?
Medical assistants play a key role in medical team operations—from managing patient relations and office administration to helping physicians perform routine exams and laboratory tests. Without the essential support provided by medical assistants, hospitals, doctor's offices and other medical facilities would be unable to function properly or at all.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 60 percent of medical assistants work in the offices of physicians. The remainder work in public and private hospitals, outpatient care centers, nursing and residential care facilities, and in the offices of health care practitioners such as chiropractors, optometrists and podiatrists.
What is a Medical Assistant?
Medical assistants carry out essential clerical and clinical tasks within a medical setting, including bookkeeping, filing, collecting lab specimens and performing first aid.
Medical assistants are not the same as physician assistants, who examine, diagnose and treat patients under the supervision of doctors. A medical assisting job also differs from that of nurses, who treat and educate patients on their conditions, analyze diagnostic test results, operate medical machinery and provide patient follow-up, along with a host of other tasks.
Typical Medical Assistant Job Duties
The comprehensive training you'll receive in medical assisting school will prepare you to tackle the day-to-day duties associated with this job. Some examples of typical medical assistant tasks include the following:
- Greeting patients and scheduling appointments
- Updating and filing patient medical records
- Coding and filling out insurance forms
- Measuring vital signs
- Taking blood samples
- Setting up EKGs
- Removing sutures and changing dressings
- Explaining treatment procedures to patients
How to Become a Medical Assistant
A medical assistant education combines key medical training with the study of office administration and management. You have the choice of pursuing a one-year certificate or two-year associate's degree, both of which deliver the same breadth of medical assistant training. However, the associate's degree will also incorporate a general education curriculum, which can give you a broader range of educational and professional opportunities down the road.
Courses in a medical assistant education program reflect the dual nature of most medical assistant jobs and cover the following areas:
- Accounting and Bookkeeping
- Clinical and Diagnostic Procedures
- Human Anatomy
- Medical Coding and Billing
- Medical Law and Ethics
- Medication Administration
- Patient Relations
- Pharmacology
- Relevant Computer Applications
Qualifying for the Best Medical Assistant Job Opportunities
Graduating from a formal medical assisting program is the first step to gaining an edge in the job market. Beyond that, getting certified will significantly boost your credentials and expand your opportunities in the field. It will also demonstrate a dedication to ongoing education, which is necessary for maintaining certification.
Over 90 percent of medical assistants choose to become certified, even though the law does not mandate it. Many employers prefer to hire certified medical assistants and may include it in their lists of job requirements. Additionally, the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) reports that certified medical assistants earn approximately $1,200 more a year on average than non-certified ones.
Medical assistants provide a personal touch in health care environments, as they are often the first point of human contact a patient will have in any medical setting. Studying to become a medical assistant will equip you with the knowledge and skills to play this crucial role on medical teams, supplying the support physicians need and the understanding patients want.
