Looking for a career path that keeps you on your toes and has good job growth prospects? Consider becoming a medical assistant. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national job openings for medical assistants will grow 23% over the 2018-2028 period—that’s more than four times as fast as the overall national job growth rate of 5% and much faster than the overall national healthcare job growth rate of 14%.[i]
Another advantage of the medical assistant
career path is that you don’t have to invest years in a training program. At Altierus
Career College, our medical
assistant diploma program takes as few as 10 months to complete. In
addition to hands-on training, our program includes exam preparation for the Certified
Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) exam or Registered Medical Assistant (RMA)
exam.
So, what does a medical assistant do all
day? Their tasks span the clinical and administrative, and while every day is
different, here is an overview of what most medical assistants are likely to
accomplish on a daily basis.
Starting the Shift
As of 2018, 57% of medical assistants
worked in physicians’ offices.[ii] This means most medical assistants work a typical eight-hour office workday.
Those who work in hospitals, urgent care clinics, and other facilities with
extended hours may have different schedules.
Regardless of when the shift starts,
medical assistants will spend the first part of it becoming familiar with the
day’s appointments and preparing for the arrival of patients. They may:
- Check phone, e-mail and postal
mail messages for anything that requires urgent follow-up
- Attend a team meeting to review
the day’s scheduled appointments and any other business for the practice,
clinic or department
- Prepare rooms for the first
appointments, ensuring all equipment and supplies are available to the doctors
and nurses who will use them
- Prepare any paperwork necessary
for the day, such as referrals or insurance paperwork
Prime Time: Seeing Patients
When patients begin to arrive, the day becomes
very busy. Many physicians’ offices and clinics see patients every 15 to 20
minutes. While the clinical duties a medical assistant can carry out will vary
depending on the practice they work for and the laws of the state they practice
in, typical duties include:
- Welcoming patients and directing
them to their appointment rooms
- Taking a patient’s height and
weight, and sometimes other vital signs such as temperature or blood pressure
- If necessary, helping the
patient change into an exam robe
- Collecting any samples, such as
blood or urine, and packaging them for processing at a lab
- Carrying out or assisting with
routine procedures such as removing sutures, changing wound dressings,
administering certain types of injections or medication, and more
- Cleaning and re-stocking exam
rooms between patients
- Entering appointment data into
a clinic’s electronic health records (EHR) system
- Processing prescription
requests
- Calling in patient referrals to
other providers
Depending on how many administrative staff
work at the practice, medical assistants may also have additional duties such
as answering phones, typing up correspondence, and completing other medical
office tasks.
At the End of the Day
A medical assistant’s day does not end after
the last patient has gone. Routine end-of-day or end-of-shift tasks may
include:
- Completing EHR data entry
- Cleaning exam rooms and
sterilizing any reusable equipment
- Arranging for lab sample pickup
- Forwarding results of any tests
to doctors and providers
- Restocking exam room supplies,
taking inventory, and putting in orders if necessary
- Making any final phone calls
regarding referrals, insurance issues, prescription refills or patient
appointments
Medical assistants who work in facilities
that are always open, such as hospitals, may also check in with the medical
assistant on the next shift to provide an update about what happened in the
department that day, what appointments the new shift has, and any other
outstanding issues.
Training for Medical Assistant Careers
As you can see, a medical assistant’s day
is busy and draws on capabilities ranging from organizational skills to
clinical skills. If this sounds like a career path that interests you, Altierus
Career College offers a 10-month
Medical Assistant diploma program that is available at all three of our
campuses. Find out more about this program and how to apply – contact us today!
Additional references:
[i] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/medical-assistants.htm#tab-6
[ii] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/medical-assistants.htm#tab-3
