Medical Assistant Education and Training

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Learn How to Save Lives as a Medical Assistant
Candi Deschamps – elearners.com

As the health industry continues its rapid growth, the need for medical assistants in physician’s offices, hospitals, and residential care facilities is higher than ever. Job prospects are expected to be excellent for years to come, particularly for candidates with training and certification.

In most offices, medical assistants perform a variety of both administrative and clinical duties. They greet patients, schedule appointments, maintain office files, and complete insurance forms. In a clinical capacity, they may take patients’ vital stats, prepare them for examination, or explain procedures before the physician arrives. Depending on certification and/or state law, the medical assistant may administer medicine or injections.

Medical assistants in certain fields of medicine have more particular responsibilities: optometric assistants conduct eye exams, for example, and podiatric assistants make casts of feet and develop x-rays. These specialized medical assistants may also assist physicians during surgery.

Most full-time medical assistants work a 40-hour work week in clean and professional environments. In 2006, the median annual earnings of medical assistants was about $27,000, with the top ten percent earning over $36,840.

Although some medical assistants are trained on the job, it is becoming increasingly common to require that an employee have formal training in medical assisting, which indicates a certain level of knowledge and competence. A student can usually hold certification after following a one-year program or earn an associate’s degree in medical assisting after two years.

Medical assisting programs usually combine laboratory, clinical, and administrative training so that students can acquire the wide variety of skills necessary to keep a medical office running smoothly. One class might teach a student how to expose and develop x-rays, while the next could concentrate on electronic record-keeping or even medical ethics. There are many different organizations that accredit medical assisting programs, and certification requirements to perform certain duties differ by state.

Online medical assisting programs are available to those who need flexibility in the hours they devote to schoolwork, whether for job or family commitments, but distance learning may also be the way to go for anyone who prefers to log into class from the comfort of their own home. In these online courses, full-time students can complete various one- to two-year programs online, while others may take fewer classes at a time and earn their degree or certification at a pace that is right for them.

There are many online programs which offer students the right blend of theory and practice. Medical assistants are expected to be technology-savvy and have a basic understanding of anatomy and physiology. These online degrees are available from many online colleges and universities. For all the different programs in eLearners’s online database, what they all have in common is a multimedia-based platform for the medical assisting student to improve his or her basic computer proficiency and learn about health and the human body with a greater variety of visual, audio, and text media than is offered in a traditional classroom.


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