Rasmussen College Medical Assistant Degree Program

Getting your Medical Assistant training through our Medical Assistant Associate’s degree program prepares you with the skills, capabilities and confidence you need to excel in a rewarding Medical Assisting career. Medical Assisting is a vital career that helps keep society healthy. As a Medical Assistant, you will be a respected member of the health care team, and with the great salaries offered by the Allied Health industry, you will be able to provide comfortable lives for yourself and your family.

In your Medical Assistant training, you will learn to take on many roles within the medical office setting, from performing office duties such as updating and filing patients’ medical records and scheduling appointments to clinical duties such as recording vital signs, drawing blood, performing lab tests and assisting the physician during the patient examination. Physicians in private practice understand the importance of the valuable contributions, provided by these highly trained professionals, to the quality of patient service and loyalty at their office.

What Medical Assistants Do

Medical Assistants handle a variety of tasks to assist practicing physicians in a medical office setting. Many skills sets are utilized from good customer service to detailed record keeping.

In Medical Assisting, you perform many interesting tasks throughout your workday, such as:

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

About Rasmussen College