Career Opportunities

Job prospects will be best for medical assistants with formal training or experience, especially those with national certification (CMA-AAMA). Medical assistants are multi-skilled allied health professionals who perform a wide range of roles in the following health care settings:

• Private Physician Practice
• Clinics
• Hospitals
• Insurance Billing Agencies

 Typical tasks for a Medical Assistant include:

• Interviewing patients to obtain medical information and measuring their vital signs, weight, and height.
• Showing patients to examination rooms and preparing the patients for the physician.
• Recording patients' medical history, vital statistics and information such as test results in medical records.
• Preparing and administering medications as directed by a physician.
• Collecting blood, tissue or other laboratory specimens, logging the specimens, and preparing them for testing.
• Explaining treatment procedures, medications, diets and physicians' instructions to patients.
• Authorizing drug refills and providing prescription information to pharmacies.
• Preparing treatment rooms for patient examinations, keeping the rooms neat and clean.
• Cleaning and sterilizing instruments and disposing of contaminated supplies.
• Processing patient requests for medication refills.
• Scheduling appointments and patient/insurance billing.

For more information, see the following links: O*Net - Medical Assisting, National career outlook & information from the U.S. Department of Labor. Career One Stop - Medical Assisting, Michigan career outlook & information.