What Does a Medical Assistant Do? Do you like the idea of playing an important

role in a healthcare facility? Do you want to perform both administrative and clinical tasks?

You’re in luck! As a medical assistant, you can have a rewarding and challenging careerand be a vital part of a healthcare team! With the right amount of theoretical and practical

training, you’ll be ready to work in nearly any healthcare setting.

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MEDICAL ASSISTANT

TRAINING

Are you Ready to:

Ì Start a high-demand medical assisting career?

Ì Grow in a career that is flexible and family-friendly?

Ì Experience the opportunity and reward of being employed in the health care industry, one of the nation’s

fastest-growing industries?

If you answered yes to even one of the above questions, this short, yet informative medical assisting career

eBook was created especially for you. Keep reading and learn why a career as a medical assistant may be

the perfect fit for you.

Medical Assisting Career Facts and Stats from the Bureau ofLabor Statistics (BLS)

Ì Employment is expected to grow by 31 percent from 2010 to 2020, much faster than the average for all

occupations. Demand will stem from physicians hiring more medical assistants to do routine administrative

and clinical duties so that physicians can see more patients.

Ì Job seekers who want to work as a medical assistant should find excellent job prospects.

Ì Increasing use of medical assistants to allow doctors to care for more patients will further stimulate job

growth.

Ì Medical assistants are projected to account for a very large number of new jobs, and many other

opportunities will come from the need to replace workers leaving the occupation.

Ì Medical assistants with formal training or experience, particularly those with certification, should have the

best job opportunities.

How to Become a Medical Assistant

Are you considering a career as a medical assistant? Smart move. In fact,

according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in the health care sector are

projected to increase as much as 34 percent in the next decade. The field of

medical assisting is equally promising with an expected employment growth

of 31 percent through 2020 and demand increasing from doctors needing

more medical assistants to handle administrative and clinical duties.

With so much opportunity, the time to train for your new medical assistant

career is now. Whether you’re currently working full time, juggling a family

or all of the above, getting the proper training you need is 100% possible.

Here’s how to become a medical assistant in three steps:

1. Choose an Online Medical Assisting School

Starting a new career when you already have a day job and responsibilities

is challenging, but not impossible if you choose the right online medical

assisting school. First, look for a nationally accredited medical assisting

program. Second, make sure the course is offered 100% online with 24/7

course access so you can study around your schedule. Next, make sure the

curriculum is comprehensive with both administrative and clinical training, as

physicians desire their staff to possess the full medical assisting skill set.

Here are some other important benefits your training program should

include:

Ì Live support

Ì Competitive tuition with financial assistance options, including interest-free

payment plans

Ì Certification exam preparation

Ì Externship experience

2. Reinforce Your Skills with a Medical Assisting Externship

Experience

Completing your medical assisting class is a major accomplishment. Now

put your new found skills to good use in a real medical setting with an externship. If

you chose the right online medical assisting school, your program should include an

externship experience. Additionally, the school should make all necessary externship

experience arrangements on your behalf.

Your externship can take place in a physician’s office, medical facility, hospital and

more, lasting approximately four to eight weeks. By the end of your externship,

you’ll have en edge over the competition and the attention of prospective employers

because you’ll have something on your resume most new medical industry job

applicants lack – Experience.

3. Take Your Certification Exam and Become a Registered Medical

Assistant

Once you complete your externship, you should feel pretty confident. And that’s

exactly the right state of mind for the next, vital step in starting your medical assisting

career–TakingtheRMAcertificationexam.TheRMAexamisofferedbyTheAmerican

Medical Technologists (AMT), a nonprofit certification agency and professional

membership association representing over 46,000 individuals in allied health care.

The 200 question, three hour exam covers general, administrative and clinical skills.

Although medical assistants are not required by law to take the certification exam, a

registered medical assistant will have access to greater salary and job advancement

opportunities.

Starting your medical assisting career is more attainable than you think. Take the

first step by researching online medical assisting schools and start your training now.

Before you know it, you’ll be an integral part of the growing health care industry.

Medical Assistant Externship –An Overview

One of the best ways to learn about something is through hands-on experience.

For students of an online medical assisting program, this is accomplished with

an externship.

Your externship is the point at which you move from student to medical assistant.

Your transition will serve as a way to fine-tune the skills you learned in class by

working in an actual medical office. Most externships are unpaid, but provide

you with the tools you need to feel confident in your ability to be a medical

assistant. An externship is like an internship, only shorter as it is the last step in

your training.

During your stay in a medical office, the externship site supervisor will offer a

written evaluation of your work, attitude and performance in general. They will

also provide feedback on how reliable you are and how well you perform each

task. It is important to ensure you receive a good evaluation, as this will be a

determining factor in whether you will be able to sit for the Registered Medical

Assistant (RMA) exam.

You likely perform duties such as:

Ì OTJ Activities and/or Externship Exposure

Ì Scheduling appointments, filing, and answering phones

Ì Learning patient flow (time management skills)

Ì Working with electronic health records or electronic medical records

Ì Assisting with prescriptions

Ì Learning about patient education

Ì Obtaining vital signs

Ì Performing patient assessments and being able to room patients efficiently

Ì Performing EKGs–if applicable

Ì Managing and ordering supplies

Ì Cleaning, sterilizing, and preparing instruments

Ì Practicing aseptic techniques

Ì Giving injections and immunizations–if applicable

Ì Assisting in patient exams

Ì Assisting in minor surgery–if applicable

Ì Practicing phlebotomy /venipuncture–if applicable

Once you have successfully completed your externship, it is a good idea to leave

copies of your résumé with the office manager, just in case a job opportunity pops

up. You can also ask them to refer you to anyone they know who might need help

as well.

Now that you have a clearer understanding of the value of completing a medical

assisting externship, make sure you choose a training program that will assist you

with this process. It’s the smart way to launch your new medical assisting career!

Medical Assisting and the “People Person”Personality

In many jobs, you train to develop the necessary skills required to perform your

duties. However, some careers require skills that simply come naturally to you. For

example, as a medial assistant, you need to be a people person. The joy of helping

people who are in pain or who have a particular health issue should come naturally

to one in this field.

Just like the doctors and medical facilities you will work for, medical assistants are

surrounded by people all day. Even more, you will be the first face a patient sees

in the exam room. Your demeanor and attitude are as evident as the sleeves on

your arms; if you love what you’re doing it will show, and if not that will show, too.

Bad days can and do happen, but with a smile on your face you can make the

appointment for a worried patient much better.

As a medical assistant, you can listen to your patients while taking their vitals and

recording health history information. This simple act can help put a patient’s mind

at ease, especially if they are sensitive to those things typically found in a doctor’s

office. The smell of medicines and disinfectants, white doctors’ coats and jars of

things to poke and prod with can induce clinical phobia in some patients. Having a

friendly, caring medical assistant makes all the difference for these people.

With compassionate empathy, a bright smile and an ear to listen, you will let patients

know you’re treating them like people first, regardless of what they are seeing the

doctor for.

Allied Student Benefits

Student Focused

Ì 100% Online, 24/7 Access

Ì Live Support

Ì Flexible Study for Busy Schedules

Ì Finish Quicker and Start You Career Sooner

High Quality Education

Ì Nationally Accredited

Ì Approved by the American Medical Technologist (AMT)Association

Ì Comprehensive Curriculum

Competitive Tuition

Ì No Unnecessary Filler Courses that Inflate Tuition Cost –No General Ed Classes to Hold You Back!

Ì Interest-Free Payment Plan Available

Ì No Additional Fees – Your Tuition Includes EverythingYou Need

Health care will generate over three million new jobs through the

decade, which is more than any other industry (BLS). This includes the

exciting field of medical assisting. Are you ready for the challenge?

Allied’s all-inclusive, online medical assisting training is all you need

to study from home on your own schedule. Successfully complete your

course and be prepared to take the RMA examination.

Get the support and encouragement you deserve with Allied by your side throughouteach step of your training program.

Visit www.medicalaa.com to learn more about Allied’s online,

self-paced training or call 888-822-2923.

Career Preparation

Ì Hands On Externship in a real medical setting

Ì Externship coordinator secures medical assisting externship instudent’s community

Ì Résumé, Cover Letter and Interview Prep

All employment and salary statistics, projections, andinformation where “(BLS)” is indicated was collected fromthe U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website. Information maybe verified by visiting http://www.bls.gov/.