What should you know about medical assistant jobs?

Posted by JOB snob on January 24th, 2019

Before you start exploring medical assistant jobs, you should understand what the job is about; what would your role and responsibilities and whether you are qualified enough to make a career in the field of healthcare. Physicians need assistance for carrying out physical examination, administering medicines and taking samples for a detailed examination.

As a healthcare assistant, you would work closely with doctors and surgeons. Your role will be handling patients in out-patient department and in emergency clinics. Also, you would need to perform administrative duties as and when assigned. For example, you would be asked to prescribe medicines to patients. A doctor would dictate the meds and your role would be to write the prescription.

The medical assistant jobs are available in large hospitals, clinics, laboratories and other areas. Your remuneration would be per hour or ,000 per annum. It is the 2017 data provided by Bureau of Labor Statistics. The authenticity of the data can be established by matching the expected salary with the remuneration offered. But you need to have minimum qualification in order to become eligible for jobs.

Here’s the list of administrative duties of an assistant

• Running computer applications
• Attending to telephone calls by patients
• Attending to patients at the hospital/clinic
• Updating patient record
• Coding and filing insurance claims
• Scheduling appointments
• Arranging laboratory services
• Managing correspondence and communication

The above mentioned are administrative duties included in medical assistant jobs.  In addition to the administrative functions, you need to perform clinical duties. You need an associate degree to become eligible for the job in healthcare industry. Also, your degree has to be duly recognized by the employers. An associate degree would make you eligible for clinical jobs but your success in the career depends on your personal knowledge and experience.

 Clinical roles:

• Taking medical histories of patients
• Explaining medical results and prescriptions to patients
• Preparing patients for medical tests and examinations
• Performing basic laboratory functions
• Putting structures and dressing patients
• Educating patients about their medical history and diets

The above mentioned are important clinical functions of assistants. But these aren’t the only functions of healthcare assistants. You will be assigned jobs matching with your educational qualification and experience in providing healthcare services.

In addition to applying for medical assistant jobs, you should start the homework of making a striking career in the field of healthcare. You need a detailed CV with a compelling cover letter to apply for the jobs.