Medical Assistant Career Opportunities Submitted By: Lee Broome According
to the US Department of Labor "Medical Assistants is projected
to be one of the fastest growing occupations over the 2004-14 period."Medical
Assistants perform a wide variety of duties in physicians offices
depending on the size of the medical office. In smaller solo or two
physician practices the duties of the Medical Assistant may include
some front desk work.
These front desk responsibilities vary from signing in and greeting
patients to scheduling visits and patient testing and admissions.However,
due to the high costs of physician liability insurance, rent and salaries,
mega-medical practices are the norm today. These are medical practices
that have 15-25 physicians. Generally in a practice like this duties
are broken down and are very delineated between front office and back
office. Duties such as greeting the patient, answering the phone,
scheduling appointments and dealing with insurance would be the
responsibility of secretaries and insurance specialists trained
in front office duties.The Medical Assistant would be responsible
for back office duties exclusively. These duties would include preparing
the patient for the exam, taking a patient history, checking blood
pressure and pulse, perhaps performing an EKG. The Medical Assistant
would be responsible for drawing blood and assisting the physician
during routine office procedures, depending on the type of medical
practice.In the past most Medical Assistants received on the job
training. All that was required for someone to become a Medical
Assistant was a high school diploma.
Today, as more medical practices are specializing and as services
rendered in physician offices become more complex these medical
practices are looking for Medical Assistants who have had formal
schooling and hold a degree in Medical Assisting.If you are thinking
of pursuing a degree as a Medical Assistant there are many different
types of specialized Medical Assistant degrees to choose from in
a variety of specialties including cardiovascular medicine, internal
medicine, ophthalmologic, dental, and pediatric. Each of these medical
specialities have specific types of office treatments and testing
which makes obtaining a degree as a Medical Assistant in a particular
field of medicine invaluable when seeking a job.About the Author:To
learn more about Medical
Assistant Schools please visit http://schoolguideusa.com/salter-cambridge.htmlies