Medical Assistant

Duties and responsibilities: Medical assistants typically do the following: Take and record patient, history and personal information, Measure vital signs, Help the physician with patient examinations, Give patients injections as directed by the physician, Schedule patient appointments, and Prepare blood for laboratory tests. Medical assistants take and record patients’ personal information. They must be able to keep that information confidential and discuss it only with other medical personnel who are involved in treating the patient. Electronic health records (EHRs) are changing medical assistants' jobs. More and more physicians are adopting EHRs, moving all their patient information online. Assistants need to learn the EHR software that their office uses. Medical assistants should not be confused with physician assistants, who examine, diagnose, and treat patients under a physician's supervision. In larger practices or hospitals, medical assistants may specialize in either administrative or clinical work.

Salary: The median annual wage for medical assistants was $29,370 in May 2012. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $21,080, and the top 10 percent earned more than $41,570.

Education: High school students interested in a career as a medical assistant should take courses in biology, chemistry, and anatomy. Medical assistants typically graduate from post-secondary education programs, and employers may prefer to hire assistants who have completed these programs. Programs for medical assisting are available from community colleges, vocational schools, technical schools, and universities and take about 1 year to complete. These programs usually lead to a certificate or diploma. Some community and junior colleges offer 2-year programs that lead to an associate’s degree. All programs have classroom and laboratory portions that include lessons in anatomy and medical terminology. Some medical assistants have a high school diploma or equivalent and learn their duties on the job. There are no formal educational requirements for becoming a medical assistant in most states. Some states require assistants to graduate from an accredited program, pass an exam, or both to do advanced tasks, such as taking x rays and giving injections.

Reflection: I would not like to be a medical assistant because it wouldn't suit me as a career. For the reason that I wouldn't like it and it would not be something enjoyable for me I like to help people but not as in assistant. I like more of the hands on as in like a surgeon or dentist something like this would fall into one of the medical careers I would like. I would enjoy this more because I like to physically help that person not just take measurements or a pulse because to me that is not really helping it’s more of just analyzing and that sounds boring to me. I would like more action if I were to choose a medical career.