A medical assistant is a trained professional who works in the health care field. Her job is to perform administrative and clinical chores in order to assist medical practitioner and other health care professionals. In order to become a good assistant in the medical field, you have to be patient, a good listener, an understanding individual, one who is able to work with people from different backgrounds, and be encouraging amongst others.

These assistants’ duties typically include both administrative chores and clinical chores. The administrative chores consist of answering phone, scheduling appointments, calling in prescriptions to a pharmacy as per doctor’s orders, bookkeeping, filing and updating patient’s medical files, filling out insurance forms and calling the insurance company to ensure the patient\’s insurance is valid, medical billing, and arranging for hospital admissions and laboratory services.

The clinical chores include taking the patient\’s medical history, taking vital signs which are blood pressure, pulse, temperature and respiration, collecting and preparing laboratory specimens, preparing and administering medication i.e. injecting the medication as per the medical practitioners orders, drawing patient\’s blood for further tasting, sterilizing and wrapping medical instruments ,taking electrocardiograms, preparing patient for different tests such as x-rays, removing sutures and changing dressings amongst others.

The training courses for this profession are offered in some colleges and in many vocational-technical high schools. The program can take from one to two to years to complete depending on the program\’s schedule. There are also some medical assistants who are trained on the job. Especially in a hospital, you will find that some certified nursing assistants end up being trained on the job to become assistants to medical professionals.

To apply for a medical assisting training program you must have a high school diploma or a GED. Some of the classes offered in the program are Computer Medical Application Laboratory, Urinalysis, Chemistry and Hematology Laboratory, Surgical Asepsis and Pharmacology, Laboratory, Electrocardiogram, Radiology and PT Laboratory, Keyboarding, Medical Terminology, Anatomy and Physiology, Document Procurement Laboratory, Word Processing Applications, Interpersonal skills and Medical Office Administration amongst others.

After the completion of the program, the assistant will need to get certified. The certification proves that the he or she has met certain standards of competence. Although certification is not mandatory, health care providers often look for assistants with certification to hire. Therefore, it is wise for anyone who is interested in this career to be certified.

There are several organizations that offer the certification. Two of these organizations are the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) and the American Medical Technologists (AMT).

The American Association of Medical Assistants offers the examination to candidates who have passed and graduated or about to graduate from accredited training programs. Once the candidate passes the certification examination, he or she would become a Certified Medical Assistant (CMA).

The American Medical Technologists offers registration of medical assistants. Once certified by the AMT, he or she would become a Registered Medical Assistant (RMA). This certification is offered to recent graduates, and those who trained on the job as assistants to medical professionals and have worked in that particular field for more than five years.

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Author Bio: Visit author\’s web site for more detailed information about medical assistant certification, medical assistant schools, and medical billing training.

Category: Career
Keywords: medical assistant, medical assistant training, medical assistant certification