| Medical Assistants (MA's) in Peaches scrubs perform | | | | although some work part-time, others nights or |
| the routine clinical and administrative tasks in physician's | | | | weekends. |
| offices and other health care facilities. MA's are not | | | | The skills needed to become a medical assistant |
| the same as physicians' assistants, who usually have | | | | include having a pleasant and courteous manner, so |
| broader and strictly clinical responsibilities. The particular | | | | you put patients at their ease and can deal with the |
| duties of MA's vary according to the type, size, and | | | | public effectively. Visual acuity and manual dexterity |
| location of the medical practice. In the smaller practices, | | | | are required to be able to accurately and efficiently |
| MA's are usually generalists who have both clinical and | | | | perform some clinical duties. The job also requires |
| administrative responsibilities and they report to a | | | | thoroughness and considerable attention to detail, to be |
| physician or an office administrator. In the larger | | | | able to efficiently handle patient records and other |
| practices, MA's often specialize and they report to a | | | | medical administrative tasks. Finally, good |
| department administrator or supervisor. | | | | communication skills are required, to explain the |
| An MA's administrative duties may include answering | | | | physician's instructions to patients. Medical assistant |
| telephones, greeting patients, filling out and filing patients' | | | | salaries can vary according to skill, geographic location, |
| medical records, correspondence, filling insurance | | | | hours worked, and experience. In 2002 MA annual |
| forms, scheduling appointments, handling bookkeeping | | | | salaries averaged $24,000, with the top ten percent |
| and billing, and arranging hospital admissions. An MA's | | | | earning over $34,000. Although not all MA's have more |
| clinical duties may include taking medical histories, | | | | than high school diplomas, formal medical training is |
| preparing patients for their examinations, preparing | | | | preferred by employers. Medical assisting training |
| examination room equipment and instruments, | | | | programs are offered in vocational and technical high |
| explaining treatment procedures to patients and | | | | schools, and also as one- or two-year post-secondary |
| instructing them about special diets and medications, | | | | programs in community colleges which lead to a |
| recording vital signs and otherwise assisting the | | | | certificate or an associate's degree. Although MA's are |
| physician's examination, drawing blood, taking and | | | | not licensed some states require them to take a |
| preparing specimens for the laboratory, doing basic | | | | course or test before they are permitted to perform |
| laboratory tests, taking electrocardiograms, preparing | | | | certain tasks. Although MA's in Urbane scrubs don't |
| the patients for x-rays, sterilizing medical instruments | | | | need to become certified, nonetheless employers give |
| and disposing of contaminated articles, removing | | | | preference to certified medical assistants. In 2002 |
| sutures and changing dressings, administering the | | | | there were over a third of a million medical assistants |
| medications directed by the physician and authorizing | | | | in the U.S., about two-thirds of whom worked in |
| drug refills, telephoning prescriptions to pharmacies, and | | | | physicians' offices, with the rest working in hospitals or |
| maintaining equipment and supplies. Typically, medical | | | | in outpatient care centers and nursing care facilities. |
| assistants in petite scrubs work 40 hour weeks, | | | | |