What to Expect From a Medical Assistant Program
With thousands of medical assistant programs to choose from, it can be hard to pick one that’s the right fit for you.
Each program has its positives and negatives. Being new to the process doesn’t help you distinguish one from the other, either. California Career Institute is here to teach you the basics of a medical assistant program and why each skill will be necessary when you go on to your career.
What You Can Expect From a Medical Assistant Program
The Health Side
A medical assistant program necessitates learning the basics about human anatomy and some common procedures. You’ll receive CPR training and build your knowledge from there. You’ll also gain a firm understanding of basic Anatomy. Mastering these core skills, you’ll be able to make a difference in clinics, hospitals, and any other healthcare facilities that help patients directly.
Depending on the program you choose, some schools even teach basic pharmacology, showing you the most common medications and how they affect the body.
The Administrative Side
Along with the human body, you need to have organization skills to ensure your place of work runs smoothly, effectively, and efficiently.
Some administrative competencies you’ll develop in a medical assistant program are:
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Managing Medical Records
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Scheduling
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Checking Patients In
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Scheduling Appointments
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Charting
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Verifying insurance eligibility
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Maintaining Patient Privacy
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Meet HIPAA Guidelines.
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Insurance
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Billing
In fact, medical billing and coding are highly valuable skills that can allow people to start their own business, managing this information for smaller healthcare facilities.
These administrative duties make medical assistants the lifeblood of any healthcare facility; you are the facilitator between doctors, nurses, insurance companies, and their patients.
Risk Management
Every business has risks, none more so than the healthcare industry. During your training, you’ll learn about laws needed to protect yourself, your patients, and your employer. MA students will also learn what information is appropriate to give a patient, state and federal laws, and when you’re legally required to report certain information.
Laboratory Procedures
Most people learn by doing, laboratory simulations are some of the best ways you can learn both these medical and administrative duties.
You’ll go over things like escorting the patient to their room, checking vitals, drawing blood, collecting other samples, and even giving injections.
Putting It All Together
These two elements, administration and physiology, come together during class. Training is done with professionals with years of experience. In both a lecture-setting and in the labs mentioned above, your instructor will guide you through the steps to learn these skills and start applying them.
California Career Institute offers all these training procedures and more. If you’re interested in starting a medical assistant program, contact us today and we’ll answer any questions you may have.
