Occupations in the Industry: Healthcare: Professions: Medical Assistant

Health care firms employ large numbers of workers in professional and service occupations. Together, these two occupational groups account for 3 out of 4 jobs in the industry. The next largest share of jobs, 18 percent, is in office and administrative support. Management, business, and financial operations occupations account for only 4 percent of employment. Other occupations in health care made up only 3 percent of the total (table 2).
Professional occupations, such as physicians and surgeons, dentists, registered nurses, social workers, and physical therapists, usually require at least a bachelor’s degree in a specialized field or higher education in a specific health field, although registered nurses also enter through associate degree or diploma programs. Professional workers often have high levels of responsibility and complex duties. In addition to providing services, these workers may supervise other workers or conduct research.
Other health professionals and technicians work in many fast growing occupations, such as medical records and health information technicians and dental hygienists. These workers may operate technical equipment and assist health diagnosing and treating practitioners. Graduates of 1-year or 2-year training programs often fill such positions; the jobs usually require specific formal training beyond high school, but less than 4 years of college.
Service occupations attract many workers with little or no specialized education or training. For instance, some of these workers are nursing aides, home health aides, building cleaning workers, dental assistants, medical assistants, and personal and home care aides. Nursing or home health aides provide health-related services for ill, injured, disabled, elderly, or infirm individuals either in institutions or in their homes. By providing routine personal care services,personal and home care aides help elderly, disabled, and ill persons live in their own homes instead of in an institution. Although some of these workers are employed by public or private agencies, many are self-employed. With experience and, in some cases, further education and training, service workers may advance to higher level positions or transfer to new occupations.
Most workers in health care jobs provide clinical services, but many also are employed in occupations with other functions. Numerous workers in management and administrative support jobs keep organizations running smoothly. Although many medical and health services managers have a background in a clinical specialty or training in health care administration, some enter these jobs with a general business education.
Each segment of the health care industry provides a different mix of wage and salary health-related jobs.
Hospitals. Hospitals employ workers with all levels of education and training, thereby providing a wider variety of services than is offered by other segments of the health care industry. About 3 in 10 hospital workers is a registered nurse. Hospitals also employ many physicians and surgeons, therapists, and social workers. About 1 in 5 hospital jobs are in a service occupation, such as nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides, or building cleaning workers. Hospitals also employ large numbers of office and administrative support workers.
Nursing and residential care facilities. About 2 out of 3 nursing and residential care facility jobs are in service occupations, primarily nursing, psychiatric, medical assistants, and home health aides. Professional and administrative support occupations make up a much smaller percentage of employment in this segment, compared to other parts of the health care industry. Federal law requires nursing facilities to have licensed personnel on hand 24 hours a day and to maintain an appropriate level of care. More info. about Medical Assistant Schools.

Distance Education

Distance education technologies are expanding at an extremely rapid rate. Too often, instructional designers and curriculum developers have become enamored of the latest technologies without dealing with the underlying issues of learner characteristics and needs, the influence of media upon the instructional process, equity of access to interactive delivery systems, and the new roles of teacher, site facilitator, and student in the distance learning process.

The terms "distance education" or "distance learning" have been applied interchangeably by many different researchers to a great variety of programs, providers, audiences, and media. Its hallmarks are the separation of teacher and learner in space and/or time (Perraton, 1988), the volitional control of learning by the student rather than the distant instructor (Jonassen, 1992), and noncontiguous communication between student and teacher, mediated by print or some form of technology .

The more familiar teachers are with the instructional design and delivery process, the more effective their presentations will be. On a practical note, they need training in instructional message design, strategies for delivering instruction on-camera, methods of diversifying types of presentation, selecting various mixes of student-teacher activities and interactions, choosing situations and examples which are relevant to their students, and assessing the level of learning by distant students. Many school such as St. Augustine Medical Assistant School now use many of these innovative distance education technologies. They also need plenty of guided, hands-on practice developing and delivering courseware using audio, full-motion video, graphics, and text, in front of a live audience, yet still in a non-threatening situation. Strategies such as using fewer overheads and more moving video, interspersing "talking heads" with videos of sites, using hands-on experiments, incorporating text and graphic art, and other guidelines for effective video production are also valuable (see Willis, 1993, for a synopsis of distance education strategies). Proper training would help distance learning teachers to change their method of teaching and give more attention to advanced preparation, student interaction, visual materials, activities for independent study, and follow-up activities.

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Nursing Assistant

Nursing Assistant


Nursing assistants, sometimes called nurse aides, orderlies, and geriatric aides, assist in the care of patients. They work under the direction and supervision of registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and other medical staff. Nursing assistants have a great deal of contact with patients and provide personal care such as bathing, feeding, and dressing. They also perform support functions such as transporting patients, taking vital signs, making beds, helping patients become ambulatory, and answering patient calls. They might also be called upon to set up equipment such as X-ray machines and overhead irrigation bottles. Nursing assistants are often responsible for observing and reporting how patients respond to the care that is being given. Nursing assistants employed in nursing homes are called geriatric aides. Also view the medical assistant blog. is These nurses have far more contact with residents than any of the other staff, and are therefore expected to develop ongoing relationships with the patients and treat them in a positive, caring way. To be a successful nursing assistant, an individual must be a team player who is able to take orders well. They must also be emotionally stable and have a great deal of patience.

Medical Assistants find the Job You Want!

Medical Assistants:
Find the Job You Want!
Whether you are looking for a job a a medical assistant in a medical office or working for another employer, there are general guidelines you can follow to find work faster. Below are tips to help you with any job search.

Network: Most people find jobs through word-of-mouth. Talk to the people you know, including relatives, friends, professors, and former co-workers. Let them know that you are looking for work; ask their advice; seek out introductions to people in the field that interests you.
Customize: Create a custom version of your resume for each job or industry that interests you. Your resume is usually an employers first contact with you. Make sure it highlights your skills that relate to the job that employer is seeking to fill.
Know yourself: Identify your skills. Work on communicating them effectively. You need to be able to lay out your skills, and explain how they relate to the job you're seeking.
Organize and prioritize: Make a list to help keep track of your job search efforts. Preparing a list also helps you to organize your priorities and keeps you focused on your goal -- finding your perfect job.
Do your homework: Read the newspaper and trade journals to remain current on developments in your field of interest. Knowing the latest trends and mergers will help set you apart from other candidates in an interview.
Practice, practice, practice: Preparation is the key to a successful interview. Know your skills and be ready to illustrate how they relate to the job in question. Practice with a friend to get comfortable with your responses and to formulate strong answers to questions you might not anticipate.
Follow up: Follow up on all leads as soon as possible. If you don't, your competition may. And, following an interview, always send a thank-you note the same day.
Keep your head up: Looking for a job can feel like a job in itself. Don't let it get you down. With patience and hard work, you will find the right job.

Medical Assistant - Job Applications

Medical Assistant Job Applications:

Create Great Cover Letters!
Your cover letter tells an employer a lot about you, good or bad. Think of it as a sales pitch. It’s primary purpose is to show why your skills and background are a perfect match for the position for which you're applying. It is not the place to present all of your experience, that should already be showcased in your resume.

As your first opportunity to make a great impression, a well-written letter shows that you are serious about your job search. Highlight one or two of your skills or accomplishments that show that you are the right person for this position.

While there is no set format or template, here are some more tips for creating a letter that employers will read:
Keep it brief. Cover letters rarely need to be longer than one page. You can usually sum it up in about four paragraphs: Introduce yourself and explain why you’re writing.
Lay out your key skills and accomplishments.
Explain why you want to work for the office or company as a medical assistant,
Thank the reader, invite him/her to contact you and lay out your follow-up plans.
Personalize. Avoid generic greetings such as "To Whom It May Concern" or "Dear Sir or Madam". Address your letter to a specific person, and make sure the spelling is correct.
Sell your skills. Don’t just rehash your resume. Highlight the skills that are most relevant. Illustrate how they relate to the position.

Clarity is key. Be very direct; write clearly and concisely. Don’t make the reader have to work to figure out why you’re writing or speculate at how your skills match the position.
Be proactive. State how you can be reached and give specific information about your plans for follow-up. Once you've said it, do it; follow through.

Review, review, review. Always take the time to review your letter. Double-check for typos; don’t rely on spell-check. If you have time, ask a friend or colleague to look it over as well. Make your changes and review again.

Medical Assistant Resume Writing Tips:

Medical Assistant
Medical Asssitant Schools

Medical Assistant Resume Writing Tips:

List your technical knowledge first, in an organized way. Your technical strengths must stand out clearly at the beginning of your resume. Ultimately, your resume is going to be read by a thoughtful human being, but before it gets to that point it often has to be categorized by an administrative clerk, and make its way past various sorts of key word searches. Therefore, you should list as many directly relevant buzz words as you can which reflect your knowledge and experience. List all operating systems and UNIX flavors you know. List all programming languages and platforms with which you're experienced. List all software you are skilled with. Make it obvious at a glance where your strengths lie - whether the glance is from a hiring manager, a clerk, or a machine.
List your qualifications in order of relevance, from most to least. Only list your degree and educational qualifications first if they are truly relevant to the job for which you are applying. If you've already done what you want to do in a new job, by all means, list it first, even if it wasn't your most recent job. Abandon any strict adherence to a chronological ordering of your experience.
Quantify your experience wherever possible. Cite numerical figures, such as monetary budgets/funds saved, time periods/efficiency improved, lines of code written/debugged, numbers of machines administered/fixed, etc. which demonstrate progress or accomplishments due directly to your work.
Begin sentences with action verbs. Portray yourself as someone who is active, uses their brain, and gets things done. Stick with the past tense, even for descriptions of currently held positions, to avoid confusion.
Don't sell yourself short. This is by far the biggest mistake of all resumes, technical and otherwise. Your experiences are worthy for review by hiring managers. Treat your resume as an advertisement for you. Be sure to thoroughly "sell" yourself by highlighting all of your strengths. If you've got a valuable asset which doesn't seem to fit into any existing components of your resume, list it anyway as its own resume segment.
Be concise. As a rule of thumb, resumes reflecting five years or less experience should fit on one page. More extensive experience can justify usage of a second page. Consider three pages (about 15 years or more experience) an absolute limit. Avoid lengthy descriptions of whole projects of which you were only a part. Consolidate action verbs where one task or responsibility encompasses other tasks and duties. Minimize usage of articles (the, an, a) and never use "I" or other pronouns to identify yourself.
Omit needless items. Leave all these things off your resume: social security number, marital status, health, citizenship, age, scholarships, irrelevant awards, irrelevant associations and memberships, irrelevant publications, irrelevant recreational activities, a second mailing address ("permanent address" is confusing and never used), references, reference of references ("available upon request"), travel history, previous pay rates, previous supervisor names, and components of your name which you really never use (i.e. middle names).
Have a trusted friend review your resume. Be sure to pick someone who is attentive to details, can effectively critique your writing, and will give an honest and objective opinion. Seriously consider their advice. Get a third and fourth opinion if you can.
Proofread, proofread, proofread. Be sure to catch all spelling errors, grammatical weaknesses, unusual punctuation, and inconsistent capitalizations. Proofread it numerous times over at least two days to allow a fresh eye to catch any hidden mistakes.
Laser print it on plain, white paper. Handwriting, typing, dot matrix printing, and even ink jet printing look pretty cheesy. Stick with laser prints. Don't waste your money on special bond paper, matching envelopes, or any color deviances away from plain white. Your resume will be photocopied, faxed, and scanned numerous times, defeating any special paper efforts, assuming your original resume doesn't first end up in the circular file.

Role of a Medical Assistant a Medical Practice:

Medical Assistant :
The Role of a Medical Assistant in a Modern Medical Practice:
Many physicians are unsure of what tasks are appropriate to assign to a Medical Assistant. It is important to remember Medical Assistant are not licensed to make independent medical assessments or give advice. Although many Medical Assistants may have advanced training in certain clinical areas it is ultimately the responsibility of the supervising physician or other licensed health care provider to assure that their staff and Medical Assistants working in the office are performing duties in compliance with all governing laws.
Physicians must determine the skill level and capabilities of each Medical Assistant they supervise and take into account liability risk and quality control when assigning them their responsibilities. Physicians should provide initial direct supervision and periodically assess the quality of their work. In practices with nurse managers, medical assistants can receive additional supervision coordinated to maximize workflow in a practice. Communicating the Medical Assistant roles to other staff and clearly delineating their responsibilities is important in maximizing the productivity of the health care team.
Although legal requirements addressing the Medical Assistant scope of practice vary by state, the Medical Assistant generally works under the license of their supervising physician or the managed care organization that employs them. To learn more about medical assisting scope of practice, contact Donald A. Balasa, Executive Director and Legal Counsel of the American Association of Medical Assistants, by e-mail at dbalasa@aama-ntl.org.
Below are some of the duties that a typical medical assistant may perform (it is important to check with local and state medical boards to determine what duties a medical assistant can legally perform. It is also important to remember that a medical assistant is not a physician, nurse, physican assistant or other licensed healh care provider, they must therefore always be supervised by the appropriate licensed health care provider, after all it is the medical practioner whos license is most at risk.) The role of a medical assistant may be split into both administrative and clinical tasks.
Typical Medical Assistant administrative tasks may include: Work in reception, answer telephone, schedule appointments, process medical billing, keep financial records, file medical charts, telephone prescriptions to a pharmacy, transcribe dictation, send letters and triage patients over the telephone using a protocol to determine the acuity of the visit and the visit-length for scheduling purposes.
The clicical tasks of a Medical Assistant vary greatly buy state and other local laws as well as the policies of a medical office or the health care setting were they are employed. Some of the supervised clinical tasks of a Medical Assistant may include: escorting the patient to exam room, carry out patient history interviews, take and record vital signs, prepare patient for examination, provide patient information/instructions, assist with medical examinations/surgical procedures, set up and clean exam rooms, maintain medical supply inventory, restock medical supplies in patient rooms, perform venipuncture (in certain states), administer immunizations (also only in certain states), collect and prepare laboratory specimens, notify patients of laboratory results after evaluation by a physician, schedule patient appointments, translate during medical interviews with non-English-speaking patients, give prevention reminders, instruct patients about medications or special diets, basic patine medical education, perform some basic laboratory tests, prepare medications as directed by the office physician, assist in performing ECGs.
Additional medical assistant duties may include: helping to develop educational materials, educate patients about procedures, negotiate managed care contracts, manage accounts payable, process payroll, document and maintain accounting and banking records, develop and maintain fees schedules, manage renewals of business and professional insurance policies, manage personnel benefits and maintain records, perform marketing, financial and strategic planning. Also, help develop and maintain personnel, policy and procedure materials, perform personnel management functions, negotiate leases and prices for equipment and supply contracts.
There are many laws that govern the function of a medical assistant and other medical office staff members, so a Medical Assistant should never perform any duties or functions unless specifically instructed my their supervising physician or other licensed health care professions.
Although legal requirements addressing Medical Assistants scope of practice vary by state, Medical Assistant generally work under the license of their supervising physician or the managed care organization that employs them. If you have any questions about the legal role a medical assistant may play in your practice please contact your local state medical board for advise. Additional Medical Assistant training inforamtion information is available at St. Augustine Medical Assistant School which now offers online distance education training for Medical Assistants.

Medical Assistant Jobs Descripition

Medical assistants perform administrative and clinical tasks to keep the offices of physicians, podiatrists, chiropractors, and other health practitioners running smoothly. They should not be confused with physician assistants, who examine, diagnose, and treat patients under the direct supervision of a physician.

The duties of medical assistants vary from office to office, depending on the location and size of the practice and the practitioner’s specialty. In small practices, medical assistants usually are generalists, handling both administrative and clinical duties and reporting directly to an office manager, physician, or other health practitioner. Those in large practices tend to specialize in a particular area, under the supervision of department administrators.
Medical assistants perform many administrative duties, including answering telephones, greeting patients, updating and filing patients’ medical records, filling out insurance forms, handling correspondence, scheduling appointments, arranging for hospital admission and laboratory services, and handling billing and bookkeeping.

Clinical duties vary according to State law and include taking medical histories and recording vital signs, explaining treatment procedures to patients, preparing patients for examination, and assisting the physician during the examination. Medical assistants collect and prepare laboratory specimens or perform basic laboratory tests on the premises, dispose of contaminated supplies, and sterilize medical instruments. They instruct patients about medications and special diets, prepare and administer medications as directed by a physician, authorize drug refills as directed, telephone prescriptions to a pharmacy, draw blood, prepare patients for x rays, take electrocardiograms, remove sutures, and change dressings.

Medical assistants also may arrange examining room instruments and equipment, purchase and maintain supplies and equipment, and keep waiting and examining rooms neat and clean.

You can now view a lisiting of Medical Assistant Jobs and training information of medical assistants: www.medassistant.org

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