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Featured Medical Assistant Articles

What is a Medical Assistant? Medical assistant training opens the doors to working in the health care industry — without the need for a lengthy course of study or an expensive degree program. Candidates, who opt for this profession, work side by side with physicians, nurses, therapists and various medical specialists. It is a rewarding career option that is open to high school graduates with a heart for patient care and a mind for detail work.

How to Become a Certified Medical Assistant The American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) identifies a certified medical assistant as a health care professional with a decided edge in the field of medical assisting. Even though it is only a voluntary examination and credential, the extra time spent studying and test-taking can pay huge dividends with respect to employability.

Medical Assistant Careers

A medical assistant is a person who assists a doctor. Her job is to do whatever is necessary to make the doctor’s job, which is to treat patients, easier. A medical assistant may work for any type of doctor, including a psychiatrist, podiatrist, dentist, ophthalmologist, general practitioner or pediatrician. She might also work in a hospital, a research development center, a university or for a local government health center.

The salary for a medical assistant varies depending on the assistant’s experience and time in the field, the specialty of the doctor and in which area of the country the office is located. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary range for a medical assistant in May 2010 was approximately $29,760 per year, or $14.31 per hour. The lowest-paid medical assistants make approximately $10.01 per hour, or $20,810 annually, and the highest-paid workers earn nearly double this, or $40,190 yearly.

The medical assistant salary tends to be higher for those working for psychiatric or substance abuse hospitals, dentists, scientific research services and specialty hospitals. For example, the average hourly certified medical assistant salary for an assistant working in a psychiatric hospital is $39,220 per year, or over $18.86 per hour. Medical assistants working in the District of Columbia, Alaska and Massachusetts enjoy higher average salaries than their peers in other states: the annual salaries for these districts and states are $37,750, $36,790 and $35,010, respectively. In contrast, assistants in some major metropolitan areas earn substantially less each year. A certified medical assistant in greater McAllen, Texas, for example, may make closer to the average salary of $21,720, and an assistant in the Muncie, Indiana may average $27,240 each year.

Medical Assistant Job Description

Medical assistant job duties may vary widely depending on the type of work environment, number of employees and volume of patients. In some small offices a medical assistant may be responsible for both administrative and clinical duties, while in hospitals and larger offices, his duties may be more specific.

Administrative medical assistants handle filing and organizing patients’ charts, filling out forms and arranging services from other providers, such as hospitals or laboratories, for their patients. They may also greet patients, take their insurance information and enter it into the computer system, scheduling appointments and handling matters related to billing, patient payments and insurance coordination of benefits.

The duties that clinical medical assistants are responsible for may be dictated, in part, by state law. In some states, assistants may be given a wider berth of duties. In general, they might handle asking patients for medical history information and recording it on their charts, explaining and preparing patients for procedures, assisting physicians during the procedures, cleaning and sterilizing equipment and preparing specimens, including urine and blood, for testing. A medical assistant may be trained by the supervising doctor to explain medications to patients, call in prescription refills, draw blood, change dressings and remove sutures. An assistant working for a specialist such as an ophthalmologist or a dentist learn the various duties necessary to assist these specialists.

Medical Assistant Training

Depending on the type of work environment, medical assistant training may take place in an institution of higher learning, a vocational school or on the job. Usually, higher education in a vocational school or college lasts one to two years. Assistants may be able to take additional courses or workshops to learn how to perform more duties, such as taking x rays or drawing blood. Medical assistant certification is generally optional, but may be required by some employers. Two associations which grant certification to medical assistants are the American Association of Medical Assistants, or AAMA, and the Association of Medical Technologists, or AMT.

Medical Assistant Job Outlook

The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the medical assistant job outlook is excellent, especially for those who are certified or who have the equivalent experience. Because technology is growing, more specialized workers will be necessary to assist doctors in their respective practices and with research. It is estimated that the medical assisting careers will increase by 34 percent between 2008 and 2018. The medical assistants who will be in the highest demand are those who are certified and who can perform administrative as well as clinical duties in their workplaces.