Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Medical Assistant Diploma vs. Degree

Prospective medical assistant students often ask: "Is it better to have a medical assistant degree or is a medical assistant diploma good enough?"

From my experience, and many seasoned medical assistants agree, a medical assistant degree is not necessarily the key to better pay or faster promotions. Reality is, most doctors and practicing health care providers don't care whether their medical assistant has a degree or diploma. Their main concern is to have a medical assistant that can do the job well and pay only as much as they have to in wages.



If a medical assistant with a diploma can do the same job as their counterpart with a Medical Assisting Applied Sciences degree--either way, that's good enough for the doctor, however, a medical assistant with an associates degree in medical assisting has a definite advantage when it comes to continued studies into other top paying healthcare professional careers. Some of their earned college hour credits can be transferred and applied toward a higher or different degree in the future, such as, for example nursing (RN), or Health Care Management (HIM) and that is where the time and money spent on the degree will be well worth it!!!

So, now that you know the difference and advantages between going for a medical assistant diploma vs. a medical assistant degree it's also important learn details about benefits of voluntarily sitting for industry recognized medical assistant certifications.

Continue your research about qualified medical assistant training to earn a MA Diploma or AAS Degree to start your medical assistant career path on the right foot. To learn more about educational requirements, and practical tips for handling emergencies, and proper documentation visit Medical Assistant Net on the Web. There is lots of additional "scope of practice for medical assistants" info at that web site.