Education is critical in today’s workplace. If you don’t have proven skills, competing for jobs is tough. Without training or experience, you’ll battle with seasoned candidates for the best medical assisting positions in Florida. Why risk it when you can position yourself at the front of the pack with a vocational school diploma?
What Are Medical Assistant’s Duties?
Medical assistants handle clinical and administrative tasks in a broad range of healthcare settings at many different medical facilities, hospitals and physician’s offices in Florida. Job descriptions vary, but their primary responsibilities include:
Triaging Clinical Calls
When patients call for help, they need to hear a knowledgeable, comforting voice. Medical assistants have the clinical expertise required to troubleshoot complex symptoms and report them to the appropriate provider. As the doctor’s representative, you’ll interact with patients on their behalf, guiding communication to deliver prompt care.
Scheduling
Medical assistants team up with medical office assistants to schedule urgent care. Because they know what clients need, how long treatments take, and which equipment and team members must be available for the visit, they’re invaluable clinical resources.
Rooming Patients
Medical assistants make care more efficient by escorting patients to exam rooms, taking their vital signs, collecting biological samples, and updating their health records. They may also perform verbal screens for depression and home safety needs to save the doctor time.
Performing Medical Tests
Medical assistants perform medical tests from electrocardiograms to urinalyses. If you enjoy the technological and scientific aspects of medicine, it lets you spend more time in the lab.
Administering Medications
Medical assistants may administer oral medication and give injections under the watchful eye of a licensed clinical professional. You’ll help give flu vaccines, allergy shots and more. Working in an oncology practice, you might also assist with infusion therapy.
Performing Treatments
Medical assistants help with treatments from suture removal to wound care. They also assist with minor surgical procedures, sterilizing and setting up equipment while serving as an extra pair of hands to the doctor.
Infection Control
Medical assistants are responsible for maintaining a sanitary environment that controls the spread of disease-causing microorganisms. From disinfecting tools to sanitizing surfaces in exam rooms, they help keep patients and peers safe.
Inventory Management
Medical assistants keep exam rooms stocked, filling shelves with what providers need to perform exams and treatment. They keep also keep track of supply use for billing, coding insurance forms so that facilities are reimbursed.
Record Management
Updating patients’ medical records is a large part of a medical assistant’s duties, but you’ll also help maintain entire recordkeeping systems and assist with the secure transfer of health data for billing and referrals.
Patient Education
Patient education is among a medical assistant’s most meaningful roles. You can’t dispense medical advice, but you can help patients better understand their treatment plan and offer timely information on important topics from nutrition to heart health.
General Office Procedures
Medical assistants are part of both the office and clinical teams, so they lend a hand with filing, faxing and other general office duties. If it happens in a Florida healthcare office, you can bet that a medical assistant is involved.
Where Can a Medical Assistants Work?
The majority of medical assistants still work in Florida doctor’s offices, but the percentage has dropped in the last decade. The rest are employed in hospitals, outpatient care facilities and for those intrigued by alternative care, chiropractor’s offices in Florida. Part of the fun of medical assisting is the freedom and flexibility to choose what to do with your diploma. As roles for medical assisting expand, the sky’s the limit on where you can work in Florida. Each setting has its perks:
Doctor’s Offices in Florida
Medical assistants employed by private practices in Florida enjoy the camaraderie of a close-knit environment. You’ll work with the same doctors, patients, and peers consistently. It’s an energetic but team-based environment where you’ll be busy but supported.
Doctor’s offices are rarely as exciting as hospitals, but there’s greater potential for specialization. If you’re passionate about one type of medicine, look for jobs in that field. Top choices, in Florida, include cardiology, pediatrics, gerontology, women’s health, and chiropractic care.
Hospitals
Hospitals are an exciting workplace for medical assistants who thrive on diversity. The patients are more acute, so your role may be less clinical and more administrative, but every task you do contributes to high-quality patient care.
A medical assistant with good organizational skills is an asset as a unit clerk or a medical records technician. However, if clinical practice is more appealing, you can assist in an ambulatory care unit.
In a Florida hospital, you’ll see a greater variety of patients and once-in-a-lifetime cases that you won’t encounter in other settings but put your most comfortable shoes on because the pace is brisk.
Outpatient Centers
Outpatient centers are parts of medical facilities that provide specialized care for patients who don’t need to be admitted. Examples include imaging centers, sleep labs, chemotherapy infusion centers, pediatric clinics, psychiatric care programs and more.
If you live in areas like central Florida where the population of seniors is skyrocketing, outpatient centers are flourishing. In the Sarasota region, medical assistants are in especially high demand. As exciting a setting as a hospital but medically focused, they need the full range of your clinical and clerical skills.
How Can Someone Become a Medical Assistant?
There’s no easier way to become a medical assistant than to enroll in a vocational school program. Full-time students graduate with a diploma in just nine months, ready to hit the ground running.
Final Thoughts
Vocational schools offer what colleges don’t, marketable training in just nine months. A foot in the door and a foundation to build on, a diploma is the cornerstone of a successful medical assisting career.
Want to Learn More?
Meridian College offers hands–on Medical Assistant training from experienced school faculty who know how to prepare you for the daily challenges you’ll face on the job. From assisting doctors with patients to important administrative tasks, our experienced Medical Assistant program teachers will train you for a rewarding new career.
In addition to receiving training from school instructors with real-world experience, you will also complete a school externship in a physician’s office, clinic, or related healthcare facility under the supervision of a physician, nurse, or health services professional to further develop your skills.
Contact Meridian College today to learn more about becoming a medical assistant.