Monday, 2 March 2015

A Detailed Overview of Medical certificate programs


The practice of medicine is complex enough.The health care practitioners or doctors may have difficulty in paying full attention. However, people with own offices must also manage clerical and low-level medical tasks to ensure success in practices. Today, medical certificate programs prepare students to update their specialized professional skills. This certificate program teaches a medical assistant to handle various roles to keep the office running smoothly.

Time Requirements
Most medical certificate programs require between three and nine months. The time length it takes to earn your certificate is based on the program you are pursuing and the place you do your program, online school or a campus school.

Generally, programs that take a few weeks to complete allow a person to take into a different position in the current career. For instance, a person working as a medical assistant can enroll in a medical coding and billing certificate program and this may be for few weeks to months.The programs taking few months to a year prepare students for a new career such as HVAC, massage therapy or legal assistance.

Admission Requirements
 Most medical certificate programs require students to have knowledge on the subject before enrolling. This is because these are trade schools preparing students to switch or start careers. There are certificate programs also to advance in the current career. This includes a bachelors and masters degree.

Types of Certificate Programs

People are always in need of health care, and certificate programs allow people even without any background in the health industry to become a health care professional in one year or so. Many programs are adaptive and you can also take classes at night and on weekends.

Medical Office Certificates
This certificate prepares you to learn basic medical office skills, taking care of patients, knowledge in bookkeeping, word processing and medical office practices. However, a medical administrative certificate teaches communication, billing and accounting protocol, updating patient’s records and scheduling appointments. Similar certificates include medical and health administrative services, healthcare management/administration and medical office management.

Health Care Assistant Certificates

In a clinical or medical assistant certificate program, you assist the doctor in the doctor’s office. This includes learning patients vital signs, how to take medication, drawing blood and sterilizing equipments.

Nursing Certificates

The nursing certificates are in several levels. This is a course certificate that is mostly preferred. If you wish you can do a post graduate work and earn the nursing science certificate and this makes you a professional nurse and you can pursue it as your career.

Other Health Care Certificates


There are other certificates such as radiation therapy certificate that deals with assisting in administering radiation in low doses to cancer patients by an oncologist and emergency medical technician certificate that includes performing non-invasive treatments.

Synopsis of Medical Assistant Training

Medical assistants work with doctors, health care team and nurses. They work side by side in treating patients, from newborns to senior citizens. In fact, they exhibit a blend of skills and this includes technical, administrative, communication and interpersonal abilities. Medical assistant training includes hands-on experience so that they are professionally and academically qualified.

Learning medical assisting is a must to gain real world experience. Adding to this, you can also earn a certificate in medical assisting training. During the training the program includes clinical coding and billing, medical laboratory procedures and surgical procedures process. This training teaches you to perform routine office tasks and also to assist physicians in the treatment and examination of patients such as:

  • Take Medical Histories
  • Explain Treatment Procedures to Patients
  • Record Vital Signs
  • Prepare Patients for Examination

Medical Assistant Requirements and Training

A high school diploma is the minimum required and it also includes advanced skills and knowledge such as familiarity with computer software applications and understanding medical terminology.  With the healthcare industry complexities, the medical assistant duties require a certain level of proficiency. Hence, employers also prefer candidates who have completed such Medical assistant training.

Apart from enrolling in such medical assistant education, the candidates can pursue industry certification programs to demonstrate their expertise to healthcare employers. Such programs are helpful as they prepare students for certification, besides awarding academic credentials.The medical assistant requirements include proficiency in verbal and written communication, solid interpersonal skills and good grammar and spelling. Strong organizational skills and the ability to work independently are essential attributes for aspiring medical assistants.

The training provides programs industry-relevant to meet today's healthcare employers needs and features courses such as  Introduction to medical assisting, Medical Terminology, Healthcare Coding, Office Accounting, Interpersonal Professional Communications, Medical law & Ethics, Medical office procedures including software applications and also essentials of Physiology & Anatomy for Medical office.

Job Outlook
The health care industry is continuously expanding and owing to this the technological advances in medicine is apparent. With this there is a need for health care workers. With medical assistant training, you can get to work as clinical medical assistant that demands you to assist in basic assessments and treatment and also in patient relations. This includes right from checking patients, recording signs, getting the patient ready for procedures to be performed, assisting nurse or doctor with their treatments, offering comfort to the patients and escorting them out of the clinic.

Administrative medical assistant is also another role that you can choose as your career. This deals with assisting office staff with billing, record keeping, appointment scheduling and maintaining changing policies and procedures. Excellent communication and organizational skills, with time management is a must to ensure office runs smoothly and patients are satisfied.