SINAI Urban Health Institute

Archive for the ‘Medical Assistant’ Category

In 21st century America, career security is a hot topic and of great importance. With an aging population and rapid medical advances, medical assisting careers and other similar jobs in the health care field, are expected to grow faster than all other career fields. Medical assistant training program offers you the opportunity for that first and most important step for a stable future.

The first step in becoming a medical assistant is a good education – Most aspiring professionals attend a medical assistant college or training program to get the textbook knowledge and job skills they will need for a medical assisting career. Medical assistant classes provide knowledge that is relevant and necessary to the duties you will perform on the job. With the inclusion of practical career skills, you will be prepared for all aspects of a medical assisting career.

Because health care careers are growing steadily, it is an asset to be able to train in different medical fields. With a medical assisting certification, you have a foundation for a variety of medical careers. You can build upon medical assistant training by taking additional college courses to become a certified nursing assistant (CNA) or a registered nurse (RN). If you like to help people, attending medical assisting class can help you realize your career dreams.

A Medical Assisting certification program is versatile

You can follow many career paths after attending medical assisting programs:

• Medical assistants are urgently needed in all 50 states; you’ll likely be able to work anywhere. Additionally, medical assistants have a wide variety of choices in the workplace. You could work for a small community care clinic or for a world-famous medical research center.

• By helping the attending physician complete job duties, and providing personalized attention to patients, you will be making a difference with your medical assisting career, you will be helping people.

• With a medical assisting certification, you’ll have the knowledge and discipline to get more credentials in a related health care field.

• You will be embarking upon a secure and challenging career path — medical assisting is one of the fastest-growing and most secure career areas in the nation.

What will I learn when enrolled in a Medical Assisting Program?

The short answer: a lot! With numerous classes targeted to the medical assisting career, you’ll learn the following skills, and more:

• Physician assisting skills and duties

• Medical assistant specific administrative and clerical tasks, such as insurance billing and maintenance of medical records

• Phlebotomy practices and techniques

• Common on-the-job laboratory processes

• A professional vocabulary of medical terminology

• Human anatomy and physiology

• Electrocardiogram (EKG) techniques and skills

• Pharmacology and drug dosing

• Career search coaching

• Industry standard computer software that will make you a more attractive job candidate

• The professional demeanor required for a medical assistant career

Most importantly, you will combine the knowledge from your medical assisting classes with a four-week, real-world externship at a doctor’s office or clinic. When hiring candidates for medical assistant positions potential employers value education, but they also value hands-on, practical experience. With on-site clinical experience and a comprehensive education, you’ll be well on your way to a rewarding medical assistant career.

EDrugSearch.com provides a community, tools and resources to help consumers make smart decisions when purchasing online medication. As the Internet’s leading prescription drug prices guide, we direct you to licensed international pharmacies through a comprehensive, easy-to-use search engine. Our prescription drug guide currently accesses more than 100,000 online medication listings.

Our company has long championed the right of average Americans to affordable medication. Thanks to our clear vision and strong partnerships with North American pharmacies, we are proud to be able to offer meaningful prescription drug assistance to the general public. Our free patient assistance program is designed to help: seniors on a fixed income, workers who have become unemployed, families who have lost their health insurance, anyone who cannot afford necessary medications for their loved ones.

The eDrugSearch.com Points Reward System offers a two-tier system of saving on your prescription drug coverage costs. First, simply by using our comparison shopping engine, you can obtain direct and immediate cash discounts of 40% – 80% on your everyday pharmaceutical purchases. Then, our prescription drug assistance plan offers a simple way to get additional cash discounts of up to 18% from your online pharmacy. When these savings strategies are combined, the savvy consumer can get their medication at a final price that is much lower than other patient assistance programs.

The medical assistant job description is quite varying in its list of duties.  You would be amazed at what all a medical assistant position entails.

The duties of a medical assistant vary depending on the size and location of the office.  For instance, if it is a small rural office, probably the job description includes things like secretarial duties, nursing duties, phlebotomy duties and lab work.  Anything a large staff would do, the medical administrative assistant will be doing in a small rural office.

In a large office, however, duties will include things like greeting patients, updating patient charts, filing patient medical records and answering telephones. Scheduling appointments and arranging for admissions to the hospital also fall under the responsibilities of a medical assistant.

The medical assistant job description includes working a full 40-hour week which could include evenings and weekends depending on the doctor’s hours.  They also work with people every hour of each work day, so if you don’t like working with people, this is not the position for you.

Because the position requires so many diverse skills, training is quite extensive.  In order to get in, you have to have a high school diploma or a GED.  This will be required of most schools.  Employers will prefer that you graduate from a medical assistant training program with at least a certificate if not with an associate degree.

Further, in some states will require the passing of the state certified medical assistant exam.  This is because some states require the certification of medical assistants (CMA).

Clinical duties can vary depending on the state laws.  In some states, taking vital signs and charting can be done only by the doctor or nurses in the office.  In others, a CMA can perform these duties and quite often do.  The same goes for explaining procedures to patients and performing simple patient tasks.

State laws also stand over lab tasks.  Some states allow performing lab tests to be performed by medical assistants, while others do not.  If they are allowed, the CMA will not only draw the blood, but perform the tests.

One thing goes across the board, however.  That would be that regardless of the medical assistant job description or state laws, medical assistants should never be confused with physician assistants who not only diagnose but treat patients. Louis Zhang, Medicalassistantvacancies dot com