Certified Medical Assistant

What You Should Know About Certification for Medical Assistant Jobs

As a certified medical assistant you do the majority of clinical work that a registered nurse would do including rooming patients, taking patient histories, drawing blood, administering injections, x-rays, ekg, and more. This is a well paying job and only takes a year to become a certified medical assistant. The higher paying jobs require medical assistants to have some work experience as well as be certified.

Medical assistants are not required by law to be licensed or certified. But they opt for certification because some employers require medical assistant certification, and some states require certification to perform specific job duties such as performing x-rays or drawing blood. It is highly recommended that upon graduation from an accredited school you take the medical assistant exam so you can market yourself to employers as a certified medical assistant. You can even choose to take the exam later, after you have found a job. It may help you advance in your position.

The medical assistant certification test is something that is recommended by the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA.) You have a choice of becoming a certified medical assistant or a registered medical assistant, talk to your school advisor about the difference between the two before preparing for your exam. The certification medical assistant exam is only given thrice yearly, in January, June and October. There are more than 200 official test taking sites in the United States, so there is likely to be one within reasonable driving distance from your location. If you need extra help, there are study guides for the exam you can purchase or rent from your library.

Before you even think about your certification, you must complete your education and training. This often includes an intership where you can see the work being done in a real world setting and may even be called upon to perform certain tasks. While classroom work is vital there is also a huge need for hands on training when it comes to medical assisting. Certification for medical assisting lets potential employers know that you are educated, trained and serious about your career. Think about it – who would you hire, a medical assistant without certification or one who has their certification?

The American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) and American Medical Technologists (AMT) offer the two most recognized medical assistant certifications. The AAMA awards the Certified Medical Assistant credential. You must renew the CMA credential every 5 years.

American Association of Medical Assistants

20 North Wacker Drive, Ste 1575

Chicago, IL 60606

http://www.aama-ntl.org

Working as a medical assistant you will be supervised by a physician, physician's assistant, nurse practioner or registered nurse when handling duties that involve hands on care of a patient. Depending on your education and certification, you might take blood for testing, collect urine samples, take temperatures, give vaccinations and sometimes even perform testing procedures. There is also a big clerical portion of the job you should be aware of. Even if you've obtained your certification for medical assistant jobs you will still be doing your share of administrative duties like filing, scheduling and even answering phones when necessary. This job keeps you busy and your tasks are varied.

Medical assisting careers have become so popular due to the short amount of time it takes to gain the education and certification needed to begin a well paying medical assistant job in a physician practice or hospital setting. Roughly 60% of medical assistants, also known as MAs, work in a physician practice setting while the remaining 40% are in specialty clinics, hospital settings, cancer and dialysis care clinics, blood banks, school offices, rehabilitation, correctional facilities and more.

A relatively new area for Medical assistants is in health spas or medical practices where Botox injections and other cosmetic procedures are being administered. The pay in these practices is very good because of the specialty setting and much of the business is cash. Click the link to know more on medical assistant career.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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