The Medical Assistant field according to the United States Department of Labor is expected to have a significant growth. It is expected to be one of the fastest growing career in the medical field. This field was developed by the need of new technology and equipment. The physicians needed trained qualified people to care for their offices. The medical assistant employment opportunities are plentiful.

Due to the medical insurance changes physicians are having to see a greater amount of patients and are needing professionals with technical skills. Not just the skills are needed but the care and empathy for patients is needed. Medical assistants as all other medical professions are held to a higher standard. They have an oath, code of conduct and ethics to follow in caring for the patients.

There are certain attributes that an MA must have, these are a few: empathy, confidentiality, honesty, initiative, enthusiasm, patience, flexibility, politeness, good personality, dependable, and respectful. Their appearance and hygiene must be neat at all times it shows care and respect of themselves. This is also be part of their training.

In order to get into this fast growing career you will need to enroll in an accredited school. An accredited school is a school that follows an accreditation guidelines set by an organization that governs the medical assistant programs, the facilities, finance and operations. It also monitors and sets forth guidelines for a curriculum of training for this field. This school can be a community college or a proprietary school, to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to become a medical assistant. Some schools have programs from 1 year to maybe just 8 months of training to include an externship at a medical site to practice what they have learn called a practicum. There are also schools on line that you can enroll and take classes from home. Upon completion the graduate would either receive a diploma or certificate. They would have also taken their certification examination to certify them in the field.

The responsibilities of a medical assistant are to provide skillful techniques in the administration portion of the clinic; scheduling patient appointments, telephone calls, verifying medications, medical records and at times office finance to include some billing and coding. The duties for the medical clinical arena triage patients, vitals signs, venipuncture, injections,urinalysis, EKG, X-rays (in some states), assisting with minor surgical procedures, authorizations, and prescription refill to name a few. It is an exciting field it allows for growth in the medical office to become an administrative assistant or office supervisor. Some have also further their education by enrolling or continuing in a nursing program.