Medical Assistants In High Demand
Looking for a new career in the health care industry? You might want to
consider becoming a medical assistant.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of medical
assistants is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations
through the year 2012. They say that the increasing use of medical assistants
across all rapidly growing health care industries will result in fast employment
growth for this occupation. In fact, medical assistants is projected to be the
fastest growing occupation over the 2002–12 period.
The health services industry is expanding because of technological advances in
medicine, and a growing and aging population. Due to the expansion and growth in
group practices, hospitals, medical centers, clinics, and healthcare facilities,
many more support personnel will be needed, especially medical assistants who
will be able to handle both administrative and clinical duties.
What do Medical Assistants do?
Medical assistants perform routine administrative and clinical tasks. They
provide much needed daily assistance to keep the doctors, podiatrists,
chiropractors, and other health care offices running efficiently and smoothly.
Their duties will vary from office to office, depending on the location and size
of the practice and the practitioner’s specialty. In small practices, medical
assistants usually are generalists, who would handle both administrative and
clinical duties and report directly to an office manager, physician, or other
healthcare practitioner. Those in large practices tend to specialize in a
particular area, under the supervision of department administrators.
Some of the many administrative duties performed include answering telephones,
greeting patients, updating and filing patient medical records, filling out
insurance forms, handling correspondence, scheduling appointments, arranging for
hospital admission and laboratory services, and handling billing and
bookkeeping.
The clinical duties performed would vary according to State law and may include
taking medical histories and recording patient vital signs, explaining treatment
procedures to patients, preparing the patients for their examination, and
assisting the doctor during the examination. Medical assistants collect and
prepare laboratory specimens or perform basic laboratory tests on the premises,
dispose of contaminated supplies, and sterilize medical instruments. They also
instruct patients about medications, special diets, prepare and administer
medications as directed by a physician, authorize drug refills as directed,
telephone prescriptions to a pharmacy, draw blood, prepare patients for x rays,
take electrocardiograms, remove sutures, and change dressings. They may also
arrange examining-room instruments and equipment, purchase and maintain supplies
and equipment, and keep waiting and examining rooms neat and clean.
Some assistants may specialize in particular healthcare areas and would have
additional duties to perform. Medical assistants do not examine, diagnose, or
treat patients, as a physician's assistant would.
Future career advancements may include advancing to office manager. Some may
qualify for a variety of administrative support occupations or may opt to teach
medical assisting. With additional education and cerifications, some may advance
into other health career occupations, such as nursing and medical technology.
Since the preference of many healthcare employers are for trained personnel, job
prospects should be best for medical assistants with formal training, experience
and particularly for those with accredited certification.
About the Author:
Greg Smith publishes information on medical career issues at
http://www.teddycare.com/Medical_Careers/. Visit the Health Information
Resources site at
http://www.teddycare.com/. This article may be freely reprinted as long as
the author's resource box and url links remain intact.
content provided by : Isnare