What Should Medical Assistant Students Learn?

The nature of a medical assistant's workplace today is different from that of the past. It is characterized by competition, cultural diversity, new technologies, and new management processes that require critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills as well as advanced levels of various complex job skills.

Medical assistant students should be taught more than just skills related to a basic secretarial job and never become a "Girl-Friday" for the doctor on the clinical floors. Medical assistant students should be taught in all aspects of administrative and clinical skills, and be exposed to advanced interpersonal and resume writing skills which will prepare them for the demands and versatility needed to assist doctors and various other licensed health care providers, and land the better jobs.

Medical assistant programs need to provide health and medical skills education in clinical lab classrooms where they take on the role of working medical assistants and patients to practice skills they need. They should role-play scenarios to learn how to run the front and back office efficiently and productively.

Stay in Medical Assisting or Move On to Nursing?

Those who have worked in the medical assistant profession for some years often wonder if they should go on and become a nurse, or continue in the medical assisting field for much less pay than they would earn in nursing. Not surprisingly, many opt to stay, not because of the money (there is a huge difference between the medical assistant's wages and that of a nurse), but because of the strong relationships they have forged with the doctors, other healthcare staff, and with their patients, which almost always is long term.

To learn more about the medical assisting career please visit Medical Assistant NET on the Web. 

We Need More Protection from For-Profit Education Rip-Offs!

Tell the Obama administration we need more protection from for-profit education rip-offs!

The U.S. Department of Education has proposed new rules to protect students and taxpayers from career education programs that over-charge and under-deliver, but the rules need to be stronger. USA Today praised the Obama Administration for flagging the problem, but called the proposal "feeble" and "too accommodating."

Federal law requires career education programs that receive federal student aid to "prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation." By defining "gainful employment" for the first time, the proposed rules make it possible to enforce this important law.

The for-profit college industry and its highly paid lobbyists are fighting hard to weaken the proposed rules, so exploitative businesses can keep profiting off federal student aid. That's why the Obama administration needs to hear from you today.

Take action and send your comment to the Department of Education!

Example letter:

Dear Jessica Finkel,

Career education programs that receive federal student aid funds must be held accountable for training students for good jobs without saddling them with unmanageable debt. The proposed rules on gainful employment are a good first step, but they should be strengthened to provide more meaningful protection for students and taxpayers starting next year. Ensuring access to affordable higher education is incredibly important for our economy, but for-profit programs that over-charge and under-deliver do more harm than good, and should not be subsidized by taxpayer financed student aid.