What Essential Skills Will You Learn in Medical Assistant School?
If you’re looking at a new career in medicine, now might be the perfect time to enroll in a certified medical assistant program in NY. Medical professionals are more in demand now than ever, and becoming a medical assistant is the cheapest and easiest way to enter the field.
Medical assistants are valuable, versatile members of a healthcare team. They directly assist doctors and staff in a wide variety of roles, from working with patients to helping with administrative work.
Here are just a few of the skills you can learn through a certified medical assistant program.
1 – Basic Medical Knowledge
While not full doctors, medical assistants still need to know many basics of medicine, such as human anatomy, medical terminology, pharmacology, and some everyday clinical procedures. These skills will serve you well if you decide to continue your career by moving towards a nurse certification, or even look to become a full MD.
2 – Clinical Skills
As a medical assistant, you’ll spend a lot of your time doing real hands-on work with patients.
These can include:
• Taking vital signs, such as heart rate and blood pressure
• Drawing blood for testing
• Administering injections
• Providing medications
• Performing EKGs
3 – Communication Skills
Along with doing basic clinical work, you’ll also be spending time talking to patients. Talking about patient history is a big part of the job, along with simply putting their minds at ease. You’ll also be acting as a go-between, relaying their history, questions, and concerns to the other staff, as well as helping to explain procedures and instructions to the patient.
If you already have strong communication skills, you’ll excel at this. Hospitals and clinics always need good ‘explainers’ to act as liaisons for patients and staff.
4 – Administrative Skills
When you aren’t working with patients, you’ll be working on the administrative side. This means tasks like:
• Scheduling appointments
• Preparing invoices
• Communicating with insurance companies
• Maintaining patient medical records
• Overseeing the back office
Being a medical assistant requires excellent attention to detail. If you already have some administrative or secretarial experience, you should have a firm grounding in these areas.
5 – Hands-On Training
When you attend a certified medical assistant program in NY, you’ll receive a comprehensive education that includes everything you need to succeed.
The program typically takes 30 weeks of day classes, or around 57 weeks of evening/weekend classes. You can potentially receive your certification in as little as six months! During that time, you’ll receive both classroom and hands-on training at labs and externships to ensure you’re fully prepared to enter the medical field. Additionally, there will be robust test prep to help you pass your exams.
The Westchester School for Medical and Dental Assistants is Here for You
WSMDA is a fully licensed and accredited school, devoted to making it as easy as possible for you to start a new career as a medical assistant. Concerned about the costs? Not a problem – financial aid is available.
Click here to learn more about admissions, or contact us directly if you have any questions.
