One of the fastest growing professions currently in the United States is medical assisting. According to statistics, in order to address the needs of the gerontologic population and other mounting heath issues, there is an increasing demand for medical assistants in facilities such as nursing homes, hospitals, hospices and other healthcare institutions. If you are looking for a job in the healthcare field, medical assisting might just be for you. Because of the increased need for medical assistants, many companies are willing to offer a competitive medical assistant salary guide.
It’s quite easy to become a medical assistant and anyone can qualify for the job. In the past, medical assistants were trained on the job, but due to strict protocols of most healthcare institutes, you can now only work as a medical assistant if you have undergone a medical assistant training program. Most employers would prefer to hire certified medical assistants who have passed exams given by technical schools or community colleges organized by professional and experienced individuals in the field of medical assisting.
Tasks and Roles of Medical Assistants
A qualified medical assistant can perform numerous tasks and roles. The most basic of these jobs would be checking a patient’s vital signs such as temperature, respiration rate and pulse rate. A simple task of comforting a patient and their family are also part of a medical assistant’s job description. Medical assistants deal with patients on a day to day basis and take care of other administrative medical procedures. However, a medical assistant’s tasks may vary depending on the location of the assistant. If you want to be more hands-on working with patients, you will enjoy working in smaller facilities such as a nursing home or hospice. In a large institution setting, your workload will most likely be consumed in paperwork due to the number of health care staff already present.
Understanding the Medical Assistant Salary Guide
On average, a certified medical assistant makes earns around 28,000 USD per year, which is a higher salary compared to that of medical assistants who are not certified. Certification requires a completing a program or training course that usually lasts for a year. Qualifications to enroll in a medical assistant program include a high school diploma and at least two years of college education.
As mentioned, location is a major factor that affects the role of a medical assistant, but also the salary. In areas with a high cost of living such as New York and Los Angeles, a higher medical assistant salary can be expected. In 2004, the AAMA conducted a survey to determine how locations can generally affect a medical assistant’s salary, stating that assistants living in the East and West coast earn more compared to medical assistant’s living in the Southern states. The reason for this, the survey concluded, is the greater number of private institutions practicing in the in the East and West coast. If you would like information on exactly how much a medical assistant earns, a medical assistant salary guide is the best resource.
Comparing a Medical Assistant Salary to Other Professions
Some individuals would think that a medical assistant’s salary is low compared to the salaries of other medical professionals. But despite this fact, any job in the healthcare industry offers great financial security. It is well known that the healthcare industry is very generous to its workers in terms of benefits package. As more and more medical facilities are expanding every day with the aging population, the need for medical assistants will continually increase, creating more job opportunities for individuals who don’t hold a bachelor’s degree. Medical assisting is one of the most dynamic and self-motivating professions in the health care industry. As a medical assistant, comforting and taking care of patients can contribute much to their recovery even in a small way.
It is a fact that working as a certified medical assistant offers financial security, a rewarding service-oriented job, and increased knowledge, all while taking part of the newest trend in fast money making careers. If this sounds great to you, then start enrolling in a medical assistant program.