Medical assistants are the supporting staffs who provide quality health services to various health care organizations. They are responsible for doing various clinical or administrative tasks which exists in a hospital. Some medical assistants perform both clinical and administrative tasks in the hospitals having less administrative and clinical capacities. In other cases, medical assistant may specialize in either administrative tasks or clinical tasks.

Administrative medical assistants are responsible for doing the front and back office tasks like setting up appointments, managing telephones, billing, updating the client files and filling the insurance forms. The duties of clinical medical assistant includes taking vital signs and medical histories, collecting specimens for laboratory testing, drawing blood, performing sterilization and disposal of instruments, removing or changing dressing and administering medications. They also help the patients in understanding the treatment, medications and instruction given by the concerned doctor.

Qualifying Exam

Candidates who want to pursue their career as Medical Assistants should complete one year certification course in Medical Assistance. This course provides sufficient clinical and administrative skills to the candidates to work in a health care organization. After gaining much experience in this field, medical assistants can specialize in either clinical or administrative tasks in accordance with their interest.

Who are eligible to apply?

Candidates who wish to pursue the certification course in Medical Assistance should pass 12th standard with the subjects Physics, Chemistry and Biology. They should also fulfill the eligibility criteria specified by the Institute offering this certification course. They should obtain the concerned certification from a recognized Institute.

Key Elements in the process

• Pass plus two with the subjects Physics, Chemistry and Biology
• Complete one year certification course in Medical Assistance
• Apply for the job

Skills required for a Medical Assistant

As the medical assistants are responsible for handling billing and insurance claims, they should possess basic knowledge of bookkeeping. They should be aware of human anatomy as they have to give injections to the patients. Strong communication skills are required for a medical assistant as they act as a mediator between the physician and patients. They should have a good knowledge regarding the sterilization technique used to clean different medical equipments for enhancing the safety. They also require good organizational skills to do administrative tasks effectively.