Looking for a new career in the health care industry? You might want to consider becoming a medical assistant.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of medical assistants is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2012. They say that the increasing use of medical assistants across all rapidly growing health care industries will result in fast employment growth for this occupation. In fact, medical assistants is projected to be the fastest growing occupation over the 2002–12 period.

The health services industry is expanding because of technological advances in medicine, and a growing and aging population. Due to the expansion and growth in group practices, hospitals, medical centers, clinics, and healthcare facilities, many more support personnel will be needed, especially medical assistants who will be able to handle both administrative and clinical duties.

What do Medical Assistants do?

Medical assistants perform routine administrative and clinical tasks. They provide much needed daily assistance to keep the doctors, podiatrists, chiropractors, and other health care offices running efficiently and smoothly. Their duties will vary from office to office, depending on the location and size of the practice and the practitioner’s specialty. In small practices, medical assistants usually are generalists, who would handle both administrative and clinical duties and report directly to an office manager, physician, or other healthcare practitioner. Those in large practices tend to specialize in a particular area, under the supervision of department administrators.

Some of the many administrative duties performed include answering telephones, greeting patients, updating and filing patient medical records, filling out insurance forms, handling correspondence, scheduling appointments, arranging for hospital admission and laboratory services, and handling billing and bookkeeping.

The clinical duties performed would vary according to State law and may include taking medical histories and recording patient vital signs, explaining treatment procedures to patients, preparing the patients for their examination, and assisting the doctor during the examination. Medical assistants collect and prepare laboratory specimens or perform basic laboratory tests on the premises, dispose of contaminated supplies, and sterilize medical instruments. They also instruct patients about medications, special diets, prepare and administer medications as directed by a physician, authorize drug refills as directed, telephone prescriptions to a pharmacy, draw blood, prepare patients for x rays, take electrocardiograms, remove sutures, and change dressings. They may also arrange examining-room instruments and equipment, purchase and maintain supplies and equipment, and keep waiting and examining rooms neat and clean.

Some assistants may specialize in particular healthcare areas and would have additional duties to perform. Medical assistants do not examine, diagnose, or treat patients, as a physician's assistant would.

Future career advancements may include advancing to office manager. Some may qualify for a variety of administrative support occupations or may opt to teach medical assisting. With additional education and cerifications, some may advance into other health career occupations, such as nursing and medical technology. Since the preference of many healthcare employers are for trained personnel, job prospects should be best for medical assistants with formal training, experience and particularly for those with accredited certification.



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For some nurses, the daily hospital life can be too demanding and stressful. You need to provide care to your patients eight hours a day, and this means you can get caught up dealing with other people’s problems. Also, at some point in time you can make a mistake that would take away someone’s life. That’s pretty painful, right? If you’re growing sick and tired of your traditional hospital job, you better start looking for alternative nursing careers.

There are lots of career routes out there that will pave your way out of the clinic or hospital. But it doesn’t mean you have to give up your hard-earned nursing expertise; you just have to use it in a different way.

Yes, there are numerous opportunities that require your nursing skills in alternative settings. So if you are an experienced nurse who’s not happy with your job anymore, you have no reason to fret. Remember: you are capable of more than you think. You got skills and talents so you are generally well-equipped for working out of the traditional clinical setting.

Here are some interesting career alternatives for nurses:

• Clinical Research Associate

A CRA ensures that clinical trials are done properly and without compromising the patient’s wellbeing. She also ensures accuracy of the gathered data. So if you want to be a CRA, most of your time will be spent visiting clinicians who perform such trials. You can work on different companies such as biotechnology, academic medical centers, pharmaceuticals, government agencies, the list goes on.

Clinical trial is a research study of a medical device, a drug, or a biologic treatment in humans. Pharmaceutical products, for example, undergo clinical trials to find out if they are safe and effective before they will be approved. Clinical skills are so important in this job; that’s why nurses are the most ideal candidates for such.

• Telecommuting Nursing Career

It is one of the most practical options for nurses who want t stay away from the traditional nursing jobs. You can work by telecommuting for Health Information Technology Companies, Clinical Research Centers, health organizations, medical transcription centers, and freelance sites looking for writers in the medical field.

• Nurse Contractor

Unleash the entrepreneur in you by becoming an Independent Nurse Contractor or by setting up a Nursing Agency Business. This career will not only give you financial freedom but will also make you recognize your worth. You just need to know the ins and outs of such business and voila, you can be a successful nurse entrepreneur.

• Legal Nurse Consultants

Why not use your nursing expertise and be a healthcare professional? You can take Certified Legal Nurse Consultant training and after that, you can start accepting consulters on medical-related cases. You can work for attorneys who aren’t really familiar with medical records and terminologies. Also, you can provide services to government agencies, private corporations, and even for insurance companies. Among the services you can give are researching and reviewing medical records, preparing reports on the area of illness and injury, classifying standards of care and many other services.

• Travel Nurse

A travel nursing career will surely make a difference not just in your own but in your patient’s life as well. Aside from fulfilling your traveling desires, you can also serve your patient in a way that satisfies both of you. You can work at your own pace and in different places. You just have to be careful in choosing your placement agency. Pick the one that will help make your dream a reality. Go for the agency that offers a competitive hourly rate, free housing, complete insurance plans and medical coverage, retirement plans and enticing bonuses.

So what are you waiting for? It’s time to look outside your exhausting traditional role! Spread your wings for new career adventures. Alternative nursing careers are just there waiting for you.



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Doctors and nurses regardless of their specialties are in the business of saving lives. Each one of them has a responsibility to the patients and to give you a better understanding of some of these positions, here are a few medical career descriptions.

If you see a doctor, the first person that will greet you at the office is a medical assistant. Their job is to make sure that the office is running smoothly. They will tell you to wait for awhile and then go in should the doctor be busy attending to another patient, take care of the paper work such as filing medical records and other duties that is handed down by the doctor.

But if there is an emergency and you need medical attention quickly, you have to dial 911 and wait until the paramedics arrive. Another name for them is EMT or emergency medical technician. Their job is to stabilize the patient until the ambulance reaches the hospital.

Once they get to the hospital, the patient is turned over to the doctor that will soon be assisted by other doctors and nurses. The nurse is there to monitor the patient’s condition when the physician is not around and administer medication when instructed to. Aside from working in a hospital, they may work in a residential home, in specialized units, schools and hospices.

When the nurse has to extract samples from a patient, the person who analyzes this is a laboratory technician. This individual uses machines that practically do all the testing and when the results come out, it is up to him or her to analyze the results and submit the findings to the doctor.

The doctor will decide what needs to be done to help the patient after reviewing the results. If the patient is bleeding internally, surgery may be required and a surgeon will have to be called in to remedy the situation. In cases where chemotherapy is needed, a technician who is trained in using the medical equipment will be the one to kill cancer cells on the patient’s body.

For patients that are injured and need time to recover, a physical therapist or an occupational therapist will be there to help the person learn to use their muscles once again. If the patient has suffered from a traumatic event, a specialist called a psychotherapist will try to help the patient. For those that have a hard time speaking, a speech pathologist or speech therapist may help so the words that come out can easily be understood by others.

Patients who are overweight may lose those extra pounds by exercising and working with a dietitian. This person will tell the patient what he or she should eat and those that should be avoided.

If you have a toothache, the one that can take care of this is a dentist. But for those that want to fix their teeth and make it straight, you will have to see an orthodontist.

The medical field has expanded through the years and the job descriptions mentioned shows that you that each one of them is different. If you want to become a doctor later on, you have to study hard and then work on a field of specialization because this is the only way to distinguish yourself in the field of medicine.


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