Medical assistants have both clerical and clinical responsibilities. Some tasks are distinctly one or the other, while others blend seamlessly together. As a medical assistant, you’ll be a jack-of-all-trades and a master of many.

What Does a Medical Assistant Do?

Medical assistants support doctors, nurses, and administrators by performing a broad range of clinical and clerical tasks in healthcare settings. Their job descriptions vary, some have a predominantly clinical focus while others are more administrative in nature. It’s a flexible role and an excellent career choice for people with diverse interests, satisfying passions for wellness, science, and finance.

On an average day as a medical assistant, you’ll use your clinical and administrative training to:

Triage Phone Calls

Medical office assistants usually manage the switchboard in medical settings, but while they can make appointments and answer general questions about the practice, they have limited clinical training and can’t respond to health concerns. Their role is to forward medical calls to someone who can best answer symptom-related inquiries, typically a medical assistant.

Medical assistants work side-by-side with doctors, so they’re aware of patients’ needs. They have the clinical expertise necessary to know which symptoms require home care instructions or an emergency visit.

While they can’t offer medical advice, they know, for example, that the surgeon they work for wants all patients with post-operative fevers to be prioritized for appointments. After speaking to the client and reviewing their symptoms, they’ll help the medical office assistant determine when the patient should be seen.

From the administrative perspective, this task also requires significant documentation. Records kept by medical assistants help subsequent providers track symptoms and treatments so that the patient always gets the most timely and appropriate care possible.

Stock Exam Rooms and Manage Inventory

Keeping exam rooms stocked is one responsibility with both clinical and administrative features. After reviewing the day’s schedule, medical assistants use their clinical know-how to choose the supplies needed for each visit. Postoperative care, for example, may require a staple remover kit and bandages while the doctor will need a cerumen removal kit to treat impacted ear wax.

Each of these supplies is also an expense that practices need to track. As a medical assistant, you may need to scan supplies into an inventory tracking system or keep lists of which items to reorder. With experience, you may work with vendors directly to source products and negotiate prices.

Room Patients

When a client arrives for an appointment, you’ll escort them to an exam room while preparing them for their visits. Your role will be to complete the clerical and clinical tasks necessary for providers to make the most of their one-on-one time with patients.

After taking their vital signs, you’ll update their medication and allergy lists, complete verbal pre-screenings, such as the PHQ-9 questionnaire for depression, and take notes about their physical symptoms.

You’ll also search in their medical records for overdue services, such as PAP smears and influenza vaccines, flagging the patient’s needs. When the provider arrives, they will review your notes and follow up on concerns.

Perform Diagnostic Tests

Performing diagnostic tests is a purely clinical responsibility, yet it has an administrative component. Medical assistants can assist with x-rays, draw blood, collect biological samples, complete TB tests, and do EKGs without close supervision. It’s satisfying work for science-driven people.

But each of these tasks also has a billing and coding component in which both medical assistants and medical billing specialists participate. Because they have both clinical and clerical training, medical assistants often serve as the bridge between the exam room and the back office.

Administer Medications and Treatments

Medical assistants can administer many medications and treatments in most states. Though limited to working with stable patients, they can give immunizations, remove stitches, and apply dry dressings under the supervision of a doctor or nurse. They’re also responsible for the administrative aspects of these duties, including obtaining signed consent forms and documentation.

Provide Billing Support

There’s a billing component in most of what medical assistants do, but some medical assistants take a leading role. Just as there are medical assistants that perform primarily clinical duties, so are there some that embrace mostly administrative duties.

Medical assistants can help fill out insurance forms and research rejected claims, filling in the blanks if clinical information was missing. They may also participate in marketing, financial management and human resource activities under the supervision of the practice administrator.

Maintaining Medical Records

Medical assistants make entries into clinical records in real-time as they care for patients. However, they can also oversee entire record systems, directing the flow of information between providers and patients. Patient privacy regulations and internet security add a deeper administrative dimension to recordkeeping responsibilities.

Patient Education

Medical assistants have clinical and clerical roles in patient education. Helping a patient prepare for hospital admission, for example, not only includes giving them clinical instructions, such as not to eat or take medication after a specific time, but it also requires verifying demographic and insurance data for the facility as well as informing insurers of the admission.

Where Do Medical Assistants Work?

Where there are doctors and nurses, there’s a need for medical assistants. Medical assistants are increasingly being recognized for their skill and versatility and are hired in many health settings, including:

Private Practices

The majority of medical assistants work in doctor’s offices, it’s the ideal setting for a blended skillset and makes the most of a medical assistant’s clinical expertise. Core clinical duties may include:

• Rooming patients
• Taking vital signs
• Giving vaccinations
• Performing diagnostic tests
• Assisting with treatments
• Phlebotomy
• Managing referrals
• Patient education

Administrative responsibilities encompass:

• Managing the schedule
• Overseeing inventory
• Ordering medical supplies
• Billing and coding
• Filing
• Record management

Hospitals

Medical assistants in hospitals work in many departments, from admissions and ambulatory surgery to the billing and records departments. Because some patients are more acute, clinical roles may be limited to:

• Taking vital signs
• Collecting specimens for the lab
• Patient observation
• Transporting patients between departments
• Reviewing post-procedure instructions

Performing phlebotomy and diagnostics tests in a hospital usually require additional certifications, but there’s also more potential for exclusively administrative roles. Hospitals hire medical assistants to:

• Greet clients
• Work as unit clerks
• Restock inventory
• Handle pre-admission paperwork
• Track down families for emergency admissions
• Follow-up on admissions with insurers
• Work in billing
• Manage medical records

You could, for example, work exclusively with medical records, ensuring they’re complete and properly stored while responding promptly to inquiries for clinical information. Your clinical training allows you to find pertinent medical information quickly to help doctors make speedy treatment decisions.

Clinics

Larger than private practices but smaller than hospitals, clinics are a fun environment for medical assistants. There is less staff, so roles are less focused. Everyone chips in and does the necessary jobs. Clinical tasks may include:

• Screening patients for symptoms
• Obtaining vital signs
• Drawing blood
• Assisting with radiographs and EKGs
• Administering medications
• Reviewing home care instructions

Clerical duties may consist of:

• Managing the waiting area
• Checking patients in
• Requesting prior records
• Filing
• Reviewing consent forms
• Filling out insurance claims
• Preparing invoices
• Taking payments, light accounting

Medical Billing Services

Many physicians are now outsourcing their billing to separate the business and health aspects of their practice. Medical assistants working in billing practices have no direct clinical role since they rarely see patients face-to-face. However, they do spend considerable time on the phone with them, ironing out billing and insurance issues, some of which require extensive clinical research. You may have to reach out to providers to clarify health data and review charges.

Responsibilities include:

• Taking patient phone calls
• Troubleshooting bills
• Researching claims
• Posting payments
• Collections

What’s the Easiest Way to Become a Medical Assistant?

There’s more than one way to become a medical assistant. You can go to college for two years and get an associate degree or get to work faster with a vocational school diploma.

If you attend full-time, you can graduate in as little as nine months. By eliminating elective classes that don’t directly improve your skills as a medical assistant, you’ll complete your program in less than half the time while qualifying for the same certifications and entry-level positions as your college-educated peers. It’s an unbeatable value.

There are also part-time options that let you learn at your own pace while continuing to work, but full-time participation is the fast route to graduation day It’s a great option for adults who want a new career without sacrificing an extra year of earning potential.

Vocational school medical assisting programs also come with other perks, including job placement benefits. Career advisers work closely with local employers to help fill their staffing needs. Students not only get a networking edge from industry-seasoned instructors, but they often find out about jobs that aren’t posted publicly. Employers are increasingly turning to schools for trained graduates instead of placing want ads that attract unqualified applicants.

Final Thoughts

Medical assisting has a lot going for it as a career. It’s secure and personally rewarding, but the best part about the job is that it’s never stale because it’s so flexible. Whether your strengths lie in clinical or clerical practice, there are always opportunities and a place for you in the medical community.

Want to Learn More?

Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ & Institute offers to gain essential skills and training at multiple campuses from Lilburn, Roswell and Atlanta/Marietta to Orlando, FL and Raleigh, NC. The core curriculum at these campuses focuses on the medical assisting skills and training you will need to seek entry-level employment in physicians’ offices, clinics, hospitals, and other medical settings needing the services of associates trained in both front and back office medical assisting skills. These medical assisting courses will be the first step in starting a rewarding career.

Contact us to learn more about how you can become a medical assistant today.

Education is an investment, so students should make the most of it. If you’re interested in becoming a medical assistant, you have choices about where to learn. The best decisions are made based on your career goals, so should you go to a four-year or a vocational college? Let’s find out.

Can You Become a Medical Assistant in College?

It might surprise you to learn that some medical assistants have a bachelor’s degree, many colleges offer 4-year programs that provide a medical assisting education, including transferable credits. Some students elect to go the vocational college route and get a diploma or an associate degree. Why? Let’s explore the differences between 4-year and vocational college medical assisting programs.

4-Year College vs Vocational College

4-year and vocational colleges both offer comprehensive, high-quality education, but the practical differences are like night and day.

Program Length

It takes four years to earn a bachelor’s degree in medical assisting. The first two years consist of foundational classes that build on what students learned in high school plus general electives that broaden your horizons but don’t necessarily contribute to your skills as a medical assistant. A poetry class may deepen your worldview, but it won’t help you manage inventory in a medical office. Core classes begin the third year at a 4-year college.

Vocational colleges are different. The curriculum is focused with each class being carefully designed to enhance practical skills. There are a few elective courses to take if you pursue an associate degree. By emphasizing what matters, full-time vocational college students can complete a medical assisting program in just nine months or get an associate degree in two years. Both are faster roads to a steady career.

Class Sizes

4-year college lecture halls host hundreds of diverse students. There’s little personalized attention, and it’s the rare professor who can tailor lessons plans to their students’ needs. Classes may even be managed by a teacher’s assistant. The environment is crowded, and the hustle and bustle of campus life is a lot for some students to handle. If you struggle with the coursework, there are few safety nets.

At a vocational college, small class sizes enhance communication and promote creativity. The slower pace allows for an in-depth exploration of topics presented by industry-seasoned instructors. Lesson plans are individualized, and no one is left behind.

Approach

4-year colleges excel at teaching theory. The focus is on book learning to give students a broad foundation of knowledge. But if you learn best by doing, the first two years can be arduous.

Vocational colleges know that the best way to learn a job is through practice. Labs are equipped with the same tools medical assistants use on the job. You’ll dive headfirst into learning while your motivation is strong, feeling confident and capable before bachelor’s degree students have even gotten their feet wet.

Flexibility

4-year college schedules are tight. Classes must be taken in order, so prerequisites are complete before moving on to more complex material. Students have a full course load with little wiggle room to drop a class to deal with personal needs. And classes fill up quickly, so not everyone will be able to complete their program without taking a summer class or adding an extra semester. Most students live on or near campus with little opportunity to explore real life.

The majority of vocational college students live in their own homes. They commute and save money on room, board and food. Vocational colleges understand the needs of adult students and offer flexible schedules.

Career Services

Some colleges offer job placement services, but for most students, there’s little post-graduation support. The expectation is that as qualified alumni, they’ll be able to find work.

Vocational colleges have made it their mission to translate education into meaningful employment, working with their students before they graduate to line up jobs. Career advisers get to know students, matching a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses with available positions. Vocational colleges partner with local businesses to create a dynamic curriculum to meet their needs, so it’s not surprising that they seek out their graduates.

What Do You Learn During a Vocational College Medical Assisting Program?

Vocational college programs prepare students for entry-level positions as medical assistants. Designed for beginners, little healthcare experience is necessary. You’ll learn what you need to know to get the same jobs as medical assistants with four-year degrees, including:

Anatomy and Physiology

Medical assistants are trained in both administrative and clinical responsibilities. An understanding of how the body is made and how it functions is a must to work in a healthcare setting.

The course isn’t as complex as what licensed healthcare providers endure, but it covers enough to ensure medical assistants can read medical reports and prioritize patient needs. You’ll explore the fourteen body systems, associated conditions and treatments.

Clinical Procedures

Medical assistants help doctors with a wide range of clinical procedures from taking vital signs to performing diagnostic tests and assisting with surgical procedures. Practicing with the latest equipment, you’ll do EKGs and take patients’ temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate and peripheral oxygen saturation.

You’ll explore the world of infection control, learning disinfection, sanitation, and sterilization technique. As a medical assistant, part of your job is keeping shared surfaces and equipment clean to prevent the spread of transmissible diseases.

Phlebotomy

Phlebotomy, the art of drawing blood, is an essential skill for today’s medical assistants. Most private practices now offer this service as a convenience for their patients. It’s a better use of medical resources and speeds up care.

In a vocational college program, you’ll learn how to draw blood and process samples, practicing on models, fellow students, and patients during supervised externships. It’s a simple but technically demanding task that requires confidence and sound clinical judgment.

Office Practices

Vocational college programs give students an overview of how medical offices function. A highly regulated environment, practices are different than the average business. Those without prior clerical experience will learn how to use basic office equipment. Additional topics include customer service principles, communication, delegations and how to build effective workplace relationships.

Computer Applications

Healthcare records are now digital, stored in computerized databases instead of filing cabinets. Part of a medical assistant’s responsibilities is to review and update records. Working with the same type of software you’ll use on the job, you’ll practice accessing, editing and correcting data.

Billing and Coding

Medical coding, a type of alphanumeric shorthand, is used to describe health conditions and services on insurance forms. Used globally, accuracy is critical for reimbursement. Medical assistants help with billing and inventory management by ensuring that documentation is properly coded. This course covers the three most common coding systems and offers an overview of commercial and public health insurance options.

Medical Law and Ethics

There are volumes of healthcare regulations designed to improve care and protect patient privacy. This course introduces students to HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Signed in 1996, it defines patients’ rights and responsibilities and governs how medical information is shared.

You’ll learn how to work safely within the rules and handle the ethical dilemmas you may encounter.

Career Development

Vocational schools set the stage for professional growth by helping you climb the career ladder.

From preparing you for certification to offering placement services, they’ll help you land a rewarding job and position yourself for advancement.

Becoming certified is an important step in your career, and the good news is, the curriculum “teaches to the test.”Upon graduation, you’ll qualify to sit for one of several certification exams, making you a more valuable potential employee.

Externships

Externships are off-site learning opportunities. Students work closely with experienced medical assistants, observing how they perform. You’ll spend up to a week working in a medical setting, building confidence and practicing skills, from scheduling to phlebotomy, with the help of a mentor. Yes, you’re graded, but the goal is to help you feel comfortable as you begin a new career.

Why Get a Vocational College Diploma?

A bachelor’s degree is never wasted. Credits are transferable, so if you decide to become a nurse after a few years as a medical assistant, you won’t have to start from scratch. But is it worth the time and money when you can get the same job with a diploma?

Going to a four-year college has its perks. There are more on-campus activities and nightlife if you can spare the study time. But vocational colleges also have many advantages. Being out of the workforce for four years is tough for students with other financial and family responsibilities. A vocational college education isn’t a shortcut, it’s just a shorter path to the same destination and a great value.

Final Thoughts

Medical assisting is an up-and-coming career with personal and professional benefits. Whether you want a 4-year degree and the full college experience or want a head start in life with a vocational college diploma or associate degree, the most important thing is to get started today.

Which college are you interested in? Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ & Institute offers to gain essential skills and training at multiple campuses from Lilburn, Roswell and Atlanta/Marietta to Orlando, FL and Raleigh, NC. The core curriculum at these campuses focuses on the medical assisting skills and training you will need to seek entry-level employment in physicians’ offices, clinics, hospitals, and other medical settings needing the services of associates trained in both front and back office medical assisting skills. These medical assisting courses will be the first step in starting a rewarding career.

Contact us to learn more about how you can become a medical assistant today.