Here's to Your Health (Career): Medical Administrative Assistant and Transcriptionist Degrees

Two popular choices in the health administration job category are medical administrative assistant and medical transcriptionist. According to the US Labor Department, both types of careers will experience strong growth between now and 2012, as America's population ages and the need for medical care grows. Qualify for either job by attending a school that offers medical administrative assistant degrees or medical transcriptionist degrees.

Which of the two jobs might be right for you?
Medical Assistants Needed STAT!
As the need for health care increases, the number of physicians' offices and outpatient care facilities is surging. Each office needs someone to

• Run computer applications
• Answer telephones
• Greet patients
• Update and file patient medical records
• Code and fill out insurance forms
• Schedule appointments, etc.

In addition you may be assisting clinically. Duties could include

• Taking medical histories
• Explaining treatment procedures to patients
• Preparing patients for examination
• Assisting the physician during the exam
• Taking electrocardiograms
• Removing sutures and changing dressings, etc.

Medical Administrative Assistant Degrees
Coursework in your degree might include anatomy, physiology, and medical terminology, as well as typing, transcription, and recordkeeping. Students learn laboratory techniques, diagnostic procedures, and more.

Medical Transcriptionist: Flexibility While Helping
Being a medical transcriptionist could offer you the chance to work at home, set your own hours, and earn good money. This is about the only health administration degree that has this opportunity. Some transcriptionists are able to telecommute, or are self-employed and can work at home. But most work at healthcare facilities.

What do you do on the job? You listen to dictated recordings made by physicians and other healthcare professionals, and then transcribe them into medical reports or correspondence. You edit as necessary for grammar and clarity. The documents get reviewed by healthcare professionals, and then become part of patient files.

Your degree coursework may include

• Medical language, science and procedures
• Pharmacology
• Laboratory values, correlating laboratory test results with a patient's diagnosis and treatment
• Use of medical reference materials and research techniques

There's lots to learn, but it's well worth it.

Sources:

• Occupational Outlook Handbook: Medical Assistants
• American Association of Medical Assistants
• Occupational Outlook Handbook: Medical Transcriptionist