When you are considering a career in the medical field, you will likely find that there are a huge number of different career paths that you can take. Because of the wide variety of possibilities, it can be tough to know what one medical career is as compare to another. Before you make any major decisions, get to know more about the medical assistant profession and what it entails. Once you know more about being a medical assistant and what they do, you can be sure that you enroll in the right online health sciences program for you and get the education you need to begin your career in the medical field right here in New York.
Take Medical Histories
Medical assistants main purpose is to make a medical appointment or visit go as smoothly as possible for both the physician (and other support staff) and the patient. As such, one of the medical assistant’s main duties is to take down a patient’s medical history and record it thoroughly so that the doctor can provide the patient with the best possible care.
Scheduling Appointments and Arranging Services
Another task that many medical assistants perform is to schedule appointments for the patients. Medical assistants often have full access to a physician’s schedule and can take appointments on their behalf. Additionally if a patient needs to be admitted to the hospital for tests, surgery, or needs to have labs or other services run, a medical assistant can arrange for those important services.
Prepping Patients for Procedures
Being a medical assistant is not all “hands off” clerical and administrative work. They also get to assist in the actual medical work. As such, a medical assistant can help prepare a patient for examinations or other tests and can even prepare medications that are to be administered to the patient.
Drawing Blood and Removing Sutures
Again, medical assistants get to do some hands-on work in the medical field in that they may also perform duties such as drawing blood and removing sutures. In addition to these important medical tasks, medical assistants may be asked to help change dressings for patients who have suffered wounds or who have recently had surgery.
Now that you know some of the many different duties that medical assistants perform for patients and for physicians, you can see what a vital role medical assistants play in the medical field. Be sure to get signed up for an online health sciences program as soon as possible if being a medical assistant sounds like the right career path for you.