Medical Assistant Job Description
Doctors and other healthcare practitioners rely on medical assistants to take care of a variety of office and patient-care related tasks. Medical assistants may work in a small office handling many tasks, or a large office filling a specific role within a team. Their responsibilities differ from physician assistants, who are trained to diagnose and treat patients.
Administrative Tasks
- Updating and filing patients' medical records
- Processing insurance forms
- Scheduling hospital admissions
- Arranging laboratory services
- Acting as receptionist
- Processing mail and writing letters
- Bookkeeping and billing
- Arranging and maintaining exam room equipment and instruments
- Purchasing supplies
- Keeping waiting areas and exam rooms clean
Clinical Tasks (vary by state law)
- Taking a patient's medical history and recording his or her vital signs
- Getting a patient ready for an exam and explaining treatments
- Assisting the physician during an exam
- Following a physician's instructions for authorizing and administering medications
- Preparing a patient for x-rays and performing electrocardiograms
- Changing bandages and removing sutures
- Providing instructions to a patient about special diets and medications
- Drawing blood, processing lab specimens, and performing basic laboratory tests
- Disposing of contaminated supplies and sterilizing medical instruments
- Submitting authorized prescription orders to pharmacies
Areas of specialty include podiatry (foot-related care), ophthalmology (eye-health related care) and optometry (vision-related care).
Medical Assistant Degrees and Medical Assistant Schools
Many community colleges, vocational schools and online medical assistant training programs offer medical assistant programs. Some offer programs for a diploma or certificate, while other more advanced junior/community colleges offer two-year associate's degree.
Medical Assistant Classes: Postsecondary education programs for medical assistants usually include coursework in the following areas:
- medical terminology
- anatomy and physiology
- typing and transcription
- accounting and bookkeeping
- medical record keeping and patient privacy policy
- insurance processing
- lab testing, techniques and procedures
- pharmaceuticals and medication administration
- diagnostic and clinical procedures
- medical law and ethics
- technology and office practices
- patient relations
