Medical Assistant Careers

Do you want to help others? Have you ever wanted to be involved in medicine? Are you a well-organized "people person" who always interacts with others courteously? If so, you may wish to consider a career as a medical assistant.

What does a medical assistant do?
Medical assistants are trained professionals who help doctors, specialists, and clinics with caring for patients. They may process lab work for patients, such as blood samples or bacteria cultures; they can file paperwork to help nurses and medical receptionists; or they might assist doctors with preparing a patient examination or treatment session. They are usually not involved directly in medical care. Those who work directly with patients often need a nursing degree or its equivalent to be certified. This means being a medical assistant could be a great way to work in medicine even if you lack the training or fortitude to work as a nurse.

What is the outlook for a medical assistant?
This occupation is in high demand. Health care is one of the fastest growing uses of discretionary spending by consumers, which means there are hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on health care services every year -- money that creates jobs for professionals like medical assistants. Salaries will vary based on experience and location, but many can expect to make $45,000 to $58,000 per year on average. If you supplement your experience with a specialized degree, you can expect to earn even more. These degrees are available from traditional colleges and increasingly from online colleges.

What skills should a medical assistant have?
Medical assistants need to have good people skills, be highly organized, and be able to handle a wide variety of routine office tasks. Because medical assistants may be working with patients' medical files they must be dependable and trustworthy. Experience with processing paperwork, filing, keeping records, or working in databases will make you a more desirable candidate than others.

If you are interested in a career as a medical assistant, you may find an aptitude test to be a useful tool. Its results can help you evaluate your current job and your career goals in terms of your current skills and experiences. A career assessment may provide thoughtful insights into your options, or cause you to examine careers you may not have even considered before. It can also help you target areas for additional education so you can find the degree program that is most relevant to you.

Medical and healthcare careers related to the medical assistant field:

• CNA - Certified Nursing Assistant
• Licensed Practical Nurse
• Nursing
• Nursing Aid
• Nurse Practitioner
• Physician Assistant
• Physician