Booming Career as a Medical Assistant - 6 Important Things to Know

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The healthcare industry is full of tremendous opportunities. A career path in this industry is meant for those who want to make a difference to the lives of others and those who love medicine, science and challenges.

Starting off as a medical assistant is a brilliant step to climb the career ladder in this industry. In fact, medical assisting is one of the fastest growing careers in the health industry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the medical assistant profession is predicted to rise within various states across U.S.A by 29%, with around 26,000 job openings every year between 2012 and 2022.

If you aspire to be a medical assistant, then here are six prominent aspects about this booming career path you should know:

1. Duties of a Medical Assistant

From traditional office work, including managing the front desk, answering phones and filing insurance forms, to tasks such as drawing blood and preparing it for lab tests, administering injections and making sure medical histories are accurately recorded, a medical assistant is expected to perform a plethora of duties.
Depending upon the healthcare setting, a medical assistant is supposed to perform administrative and clinical duties including:

Clinical Duties:

• Data collection from patients.
• Recognizing emergencies and implements emergency procedures.
• Explaining treatment process to the patients.
• Performing quality control.
• Preparing patients for examination.
• Assisting the physician during exams.
• Performing basic laboratory tests.
• Participating in staff meetings.
• Instructing patients about medicines and diets to follow.
• Confirming and clarifying written orders.
• Authorizing prescription refills.
• Drawing blood.
• Taking electrocardiograms.
• Organizing patient care activities.
• Monitoring patient status.
• Collection and preparation of laboratory of specimens.

Administrative duties:

• Filling insurance forms and patient medical records.
• Answering phone calls.
• Scheduling appointments.
• Making Arrangements for hospital admissions and laboratory services.
• Handling billing and maintenance of records.

Besides these, there are medical assistants who assist ophthalmologists, optometrists and podiatrists. Ophthalmic medical assistants assist patients by showing them how to insert, remove and take care of contact lenses. They might also help an ophthalmologist in surgery. On the other hand, podiatric medical assistants make castings of feet, expose and develop X-rays, and even help podiatrists in surgery.

2. How to become a medical assistant

Interesting piece of information: Compared to other professions in the healthcare industry, a medical assistant requires little formal training or education. Having a high school diploma tends to be sufficient. But this turns out to be a double-edged sword. The competition to choose the right candidate among a sea of applications gets really tough. So to better chances of selection and get ahead of competition, one can opt for pursuing accredited programs and even volunteer as a medical assistant beforehand.

Internships are a fantastic opportunity to gain real-world experience in the medical field. This will demonstrate a level of proficiency and commitment that many employers seek. Moreover, a prior volunteering or internship experience might also create a lot of networking opportunities that can lead to potential job offers.

3. Skills required

To become a successful medical assistant, these are the set of skills you must have:

• Interpersonal and communication skills.
• Decision making.
• Organizational skills.
• Responsible behavior.
• Problem-solving skills.
• Accurate and detail-oriented.
• Good at multi-tasking.
• Successful at handling work pressure.
• Being considerate.

4. Work Environment

For a medical assistant, the work setting tends to be quite similar with a lot of other careers in the medical industry.

When it comes to working in a hospital, it relatively has more advantages. There’s much more to learn and more challenges to deal with. A typical day in a hospital is always filled with hustle and bustle. For someone who is unprepared for being on his/her toes, the scenario might tend to be overwhelming. There is a chance to interact with a lot of different people in the healthcare industry such as doctors, physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals throughout your shift.

On the other hand, clinics are more laid back than hospitals but still they also have those emergency situations that provide a brief sense of anticipation and exhilaration to break up the monotony of the day. For performing administrative duties, medical assistants working in clinics are more likely to get their own desk or work area.

Medical assistants working in nursing homes have a slightly different atmosphere as compared to both hospitals and clinics. Nursing homes generally have a more laid back work environment. Most patients are long-term and may have similar conditions, which makes care and assistance a more familiar and easy to handle task.

Regardless of whether you are working in a hospital, clinic or nursing home, there will always be situations that will present different challenges testing your skills and if you are found wanting, you will be asked add to your knowledge base or expertise.

5. Pay scale

On an average, a medical assistant earns a wage of $13.30 per hour. According to BLS, the median wage for a medical assistant was $29,610 in 2013, up slightly from the previous year. The best-paid 10 percent of medical assistants made more than $41,910, while the bottom 10 percent made less than $21,280. It’s important to note that physicians’ offices and hospitals employ the most medical assistants, but insurance carriers and personal care services pay the highest wages.

6. Job Outlook

A strong demand for medical assistants has been created owing to America’s aging population and growing health care sector. More than 500,000 medical assistants were employed in 2012 and more growth is predicted in upcoming years. If this is what you really aspire to be, there are various reputed medical assistant training programs in CT, U.S.A, which can help you acquire the necessary skills and knowledge for being a successful medical assistant.

For a medical assistant, keeping on top of the trends in the healthcare industry is the order of the day. This is a golden opportunity for those who want to gain medical experience and carve a niche for themself in this industry.

Yes, no one said it’s going to be a piece of cake. As a medical assistant, one needs to juggle with multiple tasks at the same time. This can be extremely stressful but at the same time a rewarding experience. So if you find pleasure in serving others, then this is the right career path for you.