The Right MA Programs

Medical assistants are respected members of the healthcare team. They deliver the caring touch within the confines of a medical office and make a difference by helping people from all backgrounds, ages, and walks of life!

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Medical assistant, dental assistant, and medical laboratory technician programs.

The Right MA Programs...

The Medical Assistant Profession

Medical assistants hold jobs almost exclusively in ambulatory care centers, urgent care facilities, and physicians’ clinics. They also find employment in private and public hospitals and inpatient and outpatient facilities. They assist a wide variety of medical doctors, including specialists such as podiatrists, and are no longer bound as simply generalists. They do a wide variety of clinical and laboratory procedures, as well as many administrative roles, however their duties vary from place to place.

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The "Magic Bullet" When Facing Your Competition are Your Credentials!!!

Sounds so simple, but sadly, there still are countless medical assistants that have put off getting certified. Don't make the same mistake! Take charge and get your credentials to put better jobs and pay within your reach.

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Job Training and Education

Formal education of medical assistants usually occurs in vocational or technical institutes, community colleges, proprietary schools, online educational programs or junior colleges. The curriculum presented should be accredited if its graduates plan to become either certified or registered. In 2002, there were 495 medical assisting programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) and about 170 accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education School (ABHES). Accreditation by either CAAHEP, ABHES or other accreditation associations usually requires that the schools curriculum provide sufficient classroom, lecture, and laboratory time (if applicable) to each of the courses below.

Importance of Choosing The Right Program

In addition to formal classroom education and training numerous medical assistant education programs have sprung up on the Internet. As always, careful research and an ounce of prevention is in order before signing up for online medical assistant training courses. Many such programs are usually named to sound confusingly similar to those of prestigious, accredited academic institutions but in reality their programs and certificates are quite worthless on the job market. These programs are not necessarily illegal or fraudulent, as they are typically "licensed" to do business, however, more often than not the outcome is not worth the investment of time and money. The the US Department of Education is warning potential students of these so-called diploma mills.

Surge wrote to us:

Jan 8th, 2008 - 1:55 PM

Re: No wonder so many can't find a job

Putting my 2 cents in as someone who works for a University with a CAAHEP accredited MA Diploma program... In my experience, although brief, the reason students aren't hired (or selected for internships) is not due to a lack of knowledge, or skill, but because of poor skills in areas such as professionalism.

On another note, my personal opinion as a consumer is that people want to hire MAs with experience because they realize that the MA will make, or break the practice. They have more contact with the patient than any other person in the medical office, including the doctor. The same goes for front desk staff. FYI, I'm not an MA but I do place them in internships and have extensive contact with the local health care community.

Certification or Registration

Certification, or credentialing remains completely voluntary in the USA. The National Healthcareer Associaon (NHA) and American Technologists (AMT) are strong supporters of credentialling and offer certifications and professional memberships in many branches of the alliend health professions, including medica assisting.

What Certifications Are Available?

		The National Healthcareer Association (NHA) offers the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) credential! Also, the Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA), Certified Phlebotomy Technician (CPT), Certified EKG Technician (CET), Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS), Certified Medical Lab Assistant (CMLA), Certified Patient Care Technician (CPCT), and many more.

		American Medical Technologists (AMT) offers the Registered Medical Assistant (RMA) certification! Also, their Certified Medical Administrative Specialist (CMAS), Registered Phlebotomy Technician (RPT), Registered Dental Assistant (RDA), Medical Technologist (MT), Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT), Certified Office Laboratory Technician (COLT), Certified Laboratory Consultant (CLC), and many more..