Medical Assistant Employment
After taking a good look at career opportunities, you finally realized the one career that interests you most is becoming a medical assistant. Without doubt, this career path is vital to the healthcare system so having set a goal to earn the appropriate medical assistant certification should be applauded. However, as with any career, it would be to your advantage to research the true potential for medical assistant employment so you know for certain this career path would be a financially sound decision but also one with long-term opportunities.
In addition to medical assistant jobs making it possible for doctors and nurses to provide patients with a higher level of care, this type of work is also very self-gratifying. However, another benefit is that medical assistant employment is extremely broad. In other words, while the responsibilities of the job would remain much the same regardless of environment, you would have the chance to work in a variety of different medical sectors such as doctor’s offices, hospitals, clinics, etc. In addition, with such high demand for qualified assistants, you would appreciate job security, something so few people have.
For office medical assistant jobs, duties entail a variety of administrative and clinical tasks. Your goal in this type of position would be to ensure that everything in the office for the doctor, chiropractor, pedestrian, podiatrist, or any healthcare professional runs seamlessly. Typically, people go to one particular healthcare provider for two reasons. First, they know the type and quality of care provided is exceptional and two, they know the office or clinic runs without effort. From the patient’s perspective, walking in for a doctor’s appoint to be greeted with a smile, treated with professionalism, be seen quickly, have all insurance filings done right, and so on is worth its weight in gold.
Although office medical assistant employment does not involve working with patients or assisting the doctor, it is still a viable part of the overall operation. In fact, any great doctor would agree that without the help of a highly trained and qualified medical assistant, success of the business would not achieved. Therefore, all the various medical assistant jobs such as updating and filing patients’ medical records, completing insurance forms, arranging for hospital admissions/laboratory testing, etc, are critical. Other common tasks performed include answering the telephone, greeting patients, dealing with correspondence, scheduling patient appointments, and billing/bookkeeping.
Now, if you were interested in becoming a clinical assistant, chances are good the medical assistant pay would be greater than an office assistant. In this position, you would do some or all of the tasks listed but also have the responsibility for a number of duties based on state law. For instance, with clinical medical assistant employment, you would take a patient’s medical history, record vital signs, provide procedural information, prepare a patient for doctor examination, and often, assist the doctor during procedures. Other common responsibilities include collection, and preparing lab specimens and in some cases, actually performing basic lab testing.
However, you might also consider ophthalmic, podiatric, or optometric medical assistant employment. Job duties are somewhat different in that you would work closer with patients and have the appropriate training to conduct diagnostic tests, measure and record a patent’s vision, and even test eye muscle function. In addition, applying eye dressings, teaching patients the proper way to insert contact lenses, and under the guidance of the doctor, administer eye medication. In fact, having a medical assistant certificate for this type of position would allow you to assist with eye care from chair side.
The bottom line is that with the proper education and holding the medical assistant certification for the type of assistant you want to be, you would have an incredible opportunity to be of great service to the healthcare system.
