Medical Assistant Training

Overview

The importance of high quality healthcare makes medical professionals a vital part of our community. Doctors alone cannot handle diagnosing, treating, and maintaining the health of every member. That is where medical assistants become an integral part of the medical sector. Medical assistants are people who are trained to assist the medical professionals and are distinct from nurses. They help in identifying, preventing, and treating illness. Medical assistants perform duties like updating patient records, filling out insurance, arranging for hospital admissions or laboratory appointments, appointment scheduling, handling mails and other correspondence, faxing, filing, and answering phones.

Medical certifications are necessary to meet the national standards for medical assistance training. The curriculum of the medical assistant training includes pharmacology for allied health, medical assistant administrative procedures, medical assistant lab procedures, medical assistant clinical procedure, medical office insurance and finance, and medical law, ethics, and professionalism. Material includes technical medical terminology, principles of customer service in healthcare, introduction to computing for health care, human body in health and disease, introduction to psychology, and human relations. The duration of the medical assistant training can range from three weeks to 24 months depending on the program and school you wish to study at.

Benefits

Medical assistant's profession is very dignified in nature. After completing the training, medical assistants can work in hospitals, nursing homes, medical group practice, and home health agencies. Medical assistant's salary package is generally from $280,000 to $716,000, and on an average of $469,000 a year.

Costs

The cost of the medical assistant training varies, depending on the college or university you choose to study at. The average tuition fee for bachelor's degree ranges from $9,000 to $15,000 per annum, the tuition fee for doctoral degree may cost $54,000 and $20,000. You can also go for certification programs may costs around $4,000 to $9,000.

Schools

There are various schools and colleges in the United States of America that provide training in Medical Assistance. Platt College, Remington College, and Fortis College are some of the colleges which provide degree programs in medical assistance. There are certain schools that also provide with the Medical Assistants training through the distance education mode; St. Augustine School of Medical Assistance is one of them.

Testing & Preparation

Students who wish to pursue medical assistant training degree must have a completed a high school certificate or a General Education Development (GED) with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.3 minimum. You should also take up the Medical College Admission Test and have a reasonable score. If you happen to be an international student, then the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is required. Certain colleges expect a health examination and drug screening certificates.

Financial Aid

If you are planning to study at Platt College, you can approach the financial aid office for details regarding financial assistance that are available for students studying there. Students studying in the medical field can avail Medical Profession Scholarships offered by the Straight Forward Media.