Becoming A Medical Assistant
Although sometimes people are trained on the job for this career, becoming a medical assistant usually requires you to complete an accredited training program. Once you have completed the training program, you might also want to consider becoming certified. Although this is not usually required by employers, they do prefer to hire medical assistants who are certified or who have previous experience.
Accredited programs for becoming a medical assistant are available in 46 of the 50 states. These 569 programs have been accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), and usually last one to two years depending on whether they result in a certificate or an associate’s degree. For those interested in becoming a medical assistant that do not live in an area with an accredited program, or those who wish to study online, there are two programs available with online/distance education options. These are through Kaplan University in Davenport, IA and Spencerian College in Louisville, KY. A complete listing of all the CAAHEP accredited programs for becoming a medical assistant is available on the CAAHEP website.
Another organization that accredits programs that teach you how to become a medical assistant is the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES). There are 87 ABHES accredited medical assisting programs in 30 states.
An accredited program for becoming a medical assistant involves taking courses in clinical and diagnostic procedures, coding and insurance processing, first aid, human anatomy, keyboarding and computer applications, laboratory techniques, medical administration, medical law and ethics, medical terminology, office practices, pathology, patient relations, pharmacology, physiology, and recordkeeping and accounting.
For those interested in how to become a medical assistant, one of the options for getting certified is through the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). In order to become an AAMA Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) you need to have graduated from one of the accredited programs mentioned above and you need to pass the certification exam.
Another option for getting certified is to go through American Medical Technologists (AMT). Those who are certified by AMT are called Registered Medical Assistants (RMAs). Becoming a medical assistant who is certified through AMT requires that you have completed an accredited medical assistant educational program and (if you graduated more than 3 years ago) at least five years work experience. There is also a fee involved, which needs to be paid annually upon renewal, and you need to earn points to keep up your certification through continuing education and other career related activites.