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Excerpt from: The Essential How-To Guide For Getting Started in a Medical
Assistant Career
A Candid Guide On What You Need To Know
About Current Job Opportunities, Salaries, and Choosing a School
A Quick Career Changer Quiz:
Are you frustrated because you aren’t making the kind
of money you want (and deserve) at your current job?
Do you feel you're not receiving recognition for your efforts
or tapping into your full potential?
Is your current job void of advancement?
Do you want more respect and recognition for what you do?
Do you want to find a career that provides on-going opportunity
for salary increases, greater recognition, and “C” level
advancement?
If you answered “yes” to even one of the
questions above, chances are that a career in the medical field
might just be the change you’re looking for!
One of the fastest growing careers today, medical assisting
has become one of the most opportunity driven areas in today’s job
market. People from all walks of life–-from taxi drivers to stay
at home Moms–-have all made successful transitions into the medical
field. Just consider these facts:
- According to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics,
health services will grow much faster than the average for all occupations.
Over the next 6 years this growth is expected to add 2.8 million
new jobs.
- Health services is one of the largest industries in the country,
with more than 11 million jobs.
- With the exponential growth of the UPMC empire, the number of new
medical assisting jobs created in the Pittsburgh area will be higher
than many other areas of the country.
The best part about changing careers to medical
assisting is that past work experience counts. In fact,
your previous job experience can position
you for a job that is above entry level, both in position and pay.
For example, let’s say you are currently employed
as a school teacher. This means you have an incredible amount of valuable
information about how a school runs, the processes, politics, and problems.
All of those skills will be invaluable in the medical office setting!
What Types Of Jobs Are Available for a Medical Assistant?
One of the first things you will find in researching
the medical field is that there are a lot of different specialties to
choose from. The more experience you gain the more options you have and
those options are unlimited.
Though this may seem overwhelming at first, it is important
to realize that this diversity makes it relatively easy to move from one
type of medical job to another and many positions actually incorporate
elements of several disciplines.
So what are some of the job titles a medical assisting
professional has to choose from? Here are some of the most common:
Back Office Assistant
Chiropractor Assistant
Clinical Assistant
Healthcare Administration
Home Health Aide
Medical Administrative Assistant
Medical Administrator
Medical Assistant
Medical Office Receptionist
Medical Secretary
Mental Health Assistant
Nutritional Assistant
Patient Care Assistant
Physical Therapy Assistant
Rehabilitation Aide
Research Assistant
Social Services Aide
Unit Secretary
One key thing to keep in mind is that every medical
office requires medical assistants to help things run smoothly. If you
have a particular interest, such as smoking cessation or weight loss,
the practitioners that specialize in that area are where you should start
your job search. Once on the job, you will continue learning medical skills
that apply specifically to your chosen specialty, making you more valuable
with time--and value means a bigger paycheck!
Perhaps you also noticed that many of the above titles
have words like “office” and “assistant” in them.
This is important because it illustrates a critical point–-all
of your previous job experience has provided you skills that will be valuable
to you in the medical administration field.
Business, communication, and management skills all play
into a successful career and will give you an advantage in progressing
to upper level positions. A balance of these skills and medical knowledge
is critical to success.
What Salary Can I Expect?
The salary of medical assistants can vary dramatically
depending on experience, specialty skills, and location. According to
Salary.com, the average salary for medical assistants in Pittsburgh is
slightly higher than the national average.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the
salary for a medical assistant can range anywhere from $17,130 to $33,570.
The average salary is around $23,000 and is highest at offices
and clinics of medical doctors.
To put this in perspective, it is important to note
that the bureau also found that the average salary for all other industries
was $22,752, which is below that of the medical assistant.
Another thing to keep in mind is that many medical assistants
move on to get more medical training, advancing into related and complimentary
fields such as nurse practitioner. Because of this mobility, the average
salary above reflects the wage of a group which is composed primarily
of workers that have less than seven years of experience.
What About Career Stability and Advancement?
According to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
health services jobs are expected to grow by 2.8 million new jobs over
the next six years. In fact, nine out of the 20 occupations projected to
grow the fastest are concentrated in health services....
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