Career profile Medical Assistant

Table of Contents

• What does a Medical Assistant do?
• What is a typical salary for a Medical Assistant?
• What personality traits are common among Medical Assistants?
  • Career Interests
  • Values
  • Psychological Demands
• What education and training do Medical Assistants need?
  • Typical educational degrees
  • Required knowledge and expertise
  • Important abilities
  • Critical skills

What does a Medical Assistant do?

Medical Assistants perform administrative and certain clinical duties under the direction of a physician.

In addition, Medical Assistants

• administrative duties may include scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes,
• clinical duties may include taking and recording vital signs and medical histories, preparing patients for examination, drawing blood, and administering medications as directed by physician.

What kind of tasks does a Medical Assistant perform regularly?

Medical Assistants are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

• Interview patients to obtain medical information and measure their vital signs, weight, and height.
• Clean and sterilize instruments and dispose of contaminated supplies.
• Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records.
• Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients.
• Prepare treatment rooms for patient examinations, keeping the rooms neat and clean.
• Collect blood, tissue, or other laboratory specimens, log the specimens, and prepare them for testing.
• Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician.
• Help physicians examine and treat patients, handing them instruments or materials or performing such tasks as giving injections or removing sutures.
• Perform routine laboratory tests and sample analyses.
• Greet and log in patients arriving at office or clinic.
• Perform general office duties, such as answering telephones, taking dictation, or completing insurance forms.
• Prepare and administer medications as directed by a physician.
• Authorize drug refills and provide prescription information to pharmacies.
• Change dressings on wounds.
• Schedule appointments for patients.
• Inventory and order medical, lab, or office supplies or equipment.
• Contact medical facilities or departments to schedule patients for tests or admission.
• Operate x-ray, electrocardiogram (EKG), or other equipment to administer routine diagnostic tests.
• Set up medical laboratory equipment.

The above responsibilities are specific to Medical Assistants. More generally, Medical Assistants are involved in several broader types of activities:

What is a Medical Assistant salary?

What personality traits are common among Medical Assistants?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Medical Assistant are usually higher in their Social, Conventional, and Realistic interests.

Medical Assistants typically have very strong Social interests. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Also, Medical Assistants typically have very strong Conventional interests. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Lastly, Medical Assistants typically have moderate Realistic interests. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Medical Assistant tend to value Relationships, Support, and Achievement.

Most importantly, Medical Assistants strongly value Relationships. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Second, Medical Assistants strongly value Support. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

Lastly, Medical Assistants moderately value Achievement. Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Medical Assistants must consistently demonstrate qualities such as integrity, attention to detail, and dependability.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Medical Assistants, ranked by importance:

What education and training do Medical Assistants need?

Medical Assistants often have training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Medical Assistants usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with this occupation.

Educational degrees among Medical Assistants

• 2.0% did not complete high school or secondary school
• 20.3% completed high school or secondary school
• 39.9% completed some college coursework
• 24.6% earned a Associate's degree
• 10.2% earned a Bachelor's degree
• 1.9% earned a Master's degree
• 1.2% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Medical Assistants

Important Abilities needed by Medical Assistants

Medical Assistants must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Medical Assistants need abilities such as oral comprehension, written comprehension, and oral expression in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Medical Assistants, ranked by their relative importance.

Critical Skills needed by Medical Assistants

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Medical Assistants frequently use skills like social perceptiveness, active listening, and speaking to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Medical Assistants, ranked by their relative importance.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

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