Becoming a medical assistant is frequently overlooked by many as their career choice, despite of the high demand reported by the Department of Labor. A lack of knowledge regarding the profession is more than likely the reason many aren’t choosing this path. It’s a rewarding profession that doesn’t necessarily warrant education beyond high school. You can become a medical assistant by volunteering at a healthcare establishment and gaining experience, by completing a Medical Assistant course, or by simply by being you. The starting salary is a little over $38,000 per year, according to Indeed.com.
If the healthcare field has always held your interest, becoming a medical assistant may be your destiny. Most people are familiar with the duties of a nursing assistant and a physician assistant, but what does a medical assistant actually do?
Here are a few tasks that they carry out:
- Greet and meet patients
- Patient intake
- Schedule appointments
- Verify health insurance
- Take vital signs
- Prep medical procedures
- Assist with medical procedures
Skills to perform the above tasks can be acquired simply by observation and hands on training. Some of the skills needed to be successful in this profession you may already possess through real experience.
Some of the skills or character traits needed as a medical assistant are:
- Communicate well
- People person
- Empathy
- Compassion Attention to detail
- The ability to multitask
The above skills or traits are mainly fine tuned by life, rather than education. Stay at home moms, high school graduates and those standing at a crossroad in their life, may already possess these qualities. It’s important to evaluate who you are and what you excel in, in order to determine the perfect career fit for you.
If you are fresh out of high school, you may want to pursue college courses in chemistry, science, human physics or enroll in a one or two year certificate program for medical assistants. Although a certificate is not always required for employment, combining your skills and traits with education can definitely increase your chances of employment of getting hired. Whether you choose to attend a local college or vocational school or you choose to use online medical assistance programs, just be sure to do your research first. Some colleges have recently found themselves in hot water for providing certificate courses and such that have turned out worthless.
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