If you're looking for a rewarding career that allows you to help people and feel good about what you do, consider medical assisting. Medical assistants work in a variety of settings, so you'll have a lot of diversity in your job duties. Plus, training doesn't take a long time. You can train for a certificate or you can get an associate's degree. Here's a look at some places you may work as a medical assistant and the type of training you need.
Where You Can Work As A Medical Assistant
You could work in a hospital, clinic, psychiatric facility, nursing home, or doctor's office. When you choose to work in a doctor's office, you still have a variety of choices since you could work for a pediatrician, podiatrist, eye doctor, cardiologist, or general practitioner. Also, you can focus your career on patient care or medical records systems.
What Type Of Work You Do
You'll probably be involved in simple patient care. You might do things like take vital signs when a patient checks in for a doctor's visit. You might also draw blood or give flu shots. You should enjoy working around people and have good communication skills since the patients may be sick, worried, or grumpy. Maintaining patient records will probably be an important part of your job, too, so you'll need to learn about electronic records systems. You'll also need to use medical tools and equipment. You'll learn about many of these in your training, but you may also pick up additional skills on the job.
How You Become A Medical Assistant
If you're anxious to start your career as soon as possible to earn money to support yourself, then obtaining a certificate might be your best option. This program can often be completed in under a year and you'll learn all the skills necessary to work as a medical assistant. Be sure the school you attend is accredited so you can take the certification exams required by your state.
If you can allow a couple of years for training, then going for your medical assistant associate's degree could be a better choice. You might earn more money and advance your career when you have a degree. You'll study the same courses and learn the same skills as with a certificate program, but you'll also obtain credits in other subjects that are required to obtain a degree. Both programs offer classroom instruction and clinical skills practice in a hospital or doctor's office so you graduate with the ability to start work right away.