Career Opportunities in Medical Assisting Keep Growing

In times of recession, many career fields loseand private hospitals, including inpatient and
jobs and unemployment grows. But according tooutpatient facilities; and 11 percent work in offices
U.S. Government statistics, healthcareof other health practitioners, such as
opportunities are growing and new jobs are beingchiropractors, optometrists, and podiatrists.
created. A career area that's been getting a lot ofWhat are the qualifications needed to be a medical
attention in the past few years is medicalassistant? Formal training is a plus, but it is not
assisting. Let's take a look at this growing field,always required. Employers prefer to hire either
and go behind the scenes and find our moreexperienced workers or those who are state
about these skilled healthcare professionals.certified. Certification indicates that a medical
What is a medical assistant? These trainedassistant meets certain standards of competence.
healthcare providers work in a doctor's office,Postsecondary healthcare programs are offered in
clinic, or hospital. They may perform both clinicalvocational-technical high schools, postsecondary
and administrative duties, and report directly to anvocational schools, and community and junior
office manager, physician, or other healthcolleges. Certificate and diploma programs usually
practitioner. Medical assistants in large practices orlast one year, and associate degree programs
hospitals often specialize in a particular area,generally last two years.
working under the supervision of departmentIs there a possibility for advancement? Medical
administrators.assistants may go on to teach, while others get
Medical assistants are not doctors and do notadditional career education to become nurses or
treat patients. They should not be confused withother health care workers. Administrative medical
physician assistants, who examine, diagnose, andassistants may advance to office manager, or
treat patients under the direct supervision of aqualify for a variety of administrative support
physician.occupations. Additional training is often the key to
Part of the job description may includeprofessional advancement, especially in the
administrative tasks such as filling out insurancehealthcare field.
forms, updating and filing patients' medical records,Is medical assisting a growing field? According to
and arranging for hospital admissions andthe U.S. Department of Labor, qualified people
laboratory services. Other general office dutieswho want to work as medical assistants should
may include answering telephones, handlingfind excellent opportunities. Medical assistants are
correspondence, scheduling appointments, greetingprojected to account for a very large number of
patients, and handling bookkeeping and billing.new jobs. Between 2006 and 2016, the
Clinical medical assistants may take medicalDepartment of Labor estimates that the number
histories and record vital signs, explain treatmentof medical assisting jobs will increase by 35%.
procedures to patients, prepare patients forCandidates with formal training or
examinations, and assist physicians duringexperience-particularly those with
examinations and medical procedures. State lawscertification-should have the best job opportunities.
regulate the scope of allowable clinical duties forIs medical assisting right for you? Check out the
these and many other healthcare workers.career colleges on Education-For-Careers and
Where do medical assistants work? According tocontact their admissions departments. They'll be
the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Laborhappy to provide you with the information you
Statistics (USBLS), about 62 percent work inneed to make an informed decision about
offices of physicians; 12 percent work in publicchoosing a career path and getting career training.