The role health workers play cannot be overemphasized. This is because of the crucial and vital roles they play all over the world. Medical assistants whether they work in a small or big organization are known as life savers. Before going into what the role of a medical assistant is all about, it would be very important to look at who a medical assistant is.
So, who is a medical assistant? A medical assistant is a health worker that serves as a personal aide or assistant to a Medical Doctor, Dentist, Optometrist and other medical professionals; they perform administrative duties under the supervision of a Doctor. The medical assistant has become one of the fastest growing careers in the medical field, because there is a very high demand for the services of a medical assistant.
Starting a career as a medical assistant is easiest in medical field because you don’t need to undergo any extensive medical training; you just need to get the basic training and get certified. Before I go through the process of how to become a medical assistant, let’s go through some of the duties or job description of a medical assistant, so that you will know what you are getting into.
Duties of a Medical Assistant include the following; first off is the administrative Duties. A medical assistant is expected to handle some administrative duties in the hospital; some of the administrative duties that can be handled by a medical assistant include; taking down Patient’s medical records such as blood pressure, filling in test records, updating medical history of Patients, receiving calls and scheduling medical appointments on behalf of the doctor. Others include; Performing Simple Medical Duties, arranging Patient’s Exam Room, amongst others.
Now here are top tips on how to become a medical assistant.
Becoming a Certified Medical Assistant Online – A Beginner’s Guide
1. Get Trained
There are schools that offer courses on medical assistance; especially community colleges. There are two duration of courses available to you. You can either run a 12 months diploma program or a 2 years associate degree program; the later is better because it covers most basic medical and clerical courses. Make sure that the course you take accredited by CAAHEP or ABHES.
2. Get Certified
Once you are done with the formal training, its time to get certified. The two bodies responsible for certifying Medical assistants in the united states of America for instance; are Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) and American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA).
To get certified by any of these associations, you need to sit for their certification exams; for Certified Medical Assistants (CMA)¸there certification exam are holds three times every year, January , June and October. Be sure you give yourself ample time to prepare for the exam before you sit for the exam, because you will be certified only after you scale through the exam.
3. Internship
After getting certified, most people zoom off to apply for their first jobs; nothing is wrong with that; but it is advisable that you spend sometime under the internship of a medical doctor for some time. You can actually intern in a small clinic, as long as the Medical doctor there is good and ready to teach you major things you need to excel in your career Medical assistant. Most times you are paid for the internship, so you make money while you get advanced experience; the hospital may decide to retain your services.
4. Get Your Resume Ready
It is time to prepare your killer resume to land you your first big job as a Medical assistant. Your resume should be able to impress your would be employers; you can get a professional resume writer to put together a professional resume for you. Remember to include your certifications and your experience as an intern in your Cover letter. After your resume is ready, make a list of major Hospitals, Clinics and summit your resume; your work place is not limited to a hospital, you can still drop resumes in Dental hospitals and Eye clinics.
5. Network-: Networking is very vital for your success in your career, the American Associate of Medical Assistants (AAMA) is a good association to enter to network with other Medical assistants and stay up to date with happenings in the field.
There are the tips that you need to get your ambition of being a medical assistant underway. Therefore, you have got to begin to look at the various roles being played by medical assistance, as well as the routes that are the best to be taken tom be one. A career as a Medical assistant is very easy to get started with and you have the potential to earn up to $35,000 or more per annum as a Medical assistant depending on how certified you are and the hospital or clinic you are working with.