Despite what most people think, you don’t need to spend up to a decade of your time or huge amounts of money to work in the medical field. Instead, you can become a medical assistant within one year and be part of a booming profession.
What Do Medical Assistants Do?
Your task as a medical assistant is to offer clerical and administrative support in varying settings within healthcare. Some people do more clerical work such as collecting samples and measuring vital functions, while others focus more on appointment scheduling, bill processing, and other administrative work.
Advantages of Being a Medical Assistant
These are some of the most important benefits of being a medical assistant:
Training is quick: You can get certified as a medical assistant within a year, whereas registered nurses need two to four years to complete their education.
Your certification is valid across the country: Medical assistants don’t need to get licensed in every state that they choose to work, unlike doctors, for instance.
You have great flexibility in terms of your work environment: As a medical assistant, you can work in hospitals, doctor’s offices, nursing homes, or even as an in-home health aid.
There’s job security: There is a high demand for medical assistants and it’s growing each year. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) [1] reports that this field will grow by almost 30% between 2016 and 2026 while average growth among jobs is about 7%. As a medical assistant, you can pursue specialization to become an EKG technician, hospital clerk, or phlebotomy technician, for example.
How Do You Become a Medical Assistant?
Becoming a medical assistant is probably a lot easier than you could guess. Here’s what you should expect.
First of all, you have to finish a training program. A few different organizations offer accredited certifications and they include the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES) or the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP). If you plan on moving up to a better position, you can also get an two-year associate’s degree.
After your medical assistant education is finished, you should look for an accredited training program that offers clinical training. Finally, it’s important to pass a certification exam that requires accredited training or that you can show that you have adequate experience. The American Association of Medical Assistants issues the most common certificates. You can also become a Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) or a Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA) through the National Healthcare Association (NHA).
How Much Do Medical Assistants Earn?
Considering the short and relatively inexpensive training, becoming a medical assistant pays off. Payscale.com [2] reports that the average hourly pay for a medical assistant is $14.85, while the BLS (3) reports it being $16.16 per hour.
Conclusion
Becoming a medical assistant doesn’t take too much time or money, and the pay, as well as job security, is very good. With that said, there are numerous training programs across the US, so it’s important to pick the best one for you. You will also notice a large variety of medical assistant certifications, so prepare to do a lot of research before coming up with a concrete plan. Fortunately, you can quickly compare all the different options by searching online
[1] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/medical-assistants.htm#tab-1
[2] https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Medical_Assistant/Hourly_Rate
[3] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/medical-assistants.htm#tab-1