Unitek College Blog

Here’s a pretty good article highlighting the increasing demand for healthcare positions other than just doctors.  This increased need has subsequently led to increased opportunities in medical fields ranging from medical assistant to pharmacy technicians.

“You never know where your path is going to take you in healthcare, because there are just so many opportunities for growth.  People can continue to be practitioners or go into research. They can also go into the more entrepreneurial, business side of healthcare.”

Check here to read the full article

One of the more interesting parts of the article involves quotes about how the most sought-after medical professionals are multi-skilled workers who can do a variety of medical tasks.  The high demand isn’t allowing a lot of hospitals and medical organizations to wait for nurses and doctors to finish multiple years of schooling.  They need healthcare professionals now, making other health care careers all the more valuable and lucrative.

Medical Assistant: Profession Facts

• About 62 percent of medical assistants work in offices of physicians.
• Employment is projected to grow much faster than average, ranking medical assistants among the fastest growing occupations over the 2006-16 decade.

Medical Assistant: Profession Details

Medical assistants perform administrative and clinical tasks to keep the offices of physicians, podiatrists, chiropractors, and other health practitioners running smoothly. They should not be confused with Physician assistants, who examine, diagnose, and treat patients under the direct supervision of a physician. (Physician assistants are discussed elsewhere in the Handbook.)

The duties of medical assistants 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 do many different kinds of tasks, handling both administrative and clinical duties and reporting directly to an office manager, physician, or other health practitioner. Those in large practices tend to specialize in a particular area, under the supervision of department administrators.

Medical assistants who perform administrative tasks have many duties. They update and file patients’ medical records, fill out insurance forms, and arrange for hospital admissions and laboratory services. They also perform tasks less specific to medical settings, such as answering telephones, greeting patients, handling correspondence, scheduling appointments, and handling billing and bookkeeping.

Read More: Profession Training, & Outlook
Unitek’s Medical Assistant Program Detail

Technology’s beautiful isn’t it? It does great things. One minute, it’s letting us watch movies on our brand new iPhone. The next, its advances in medicine are revamping the entire healthcare industry by increasing the need for all health care workers. This has led to a wealth of opportunities for people who have always dreamed or at least thought of a fulfilling career of doing something that helps people on a daily basis.

The most traditional way of pursuing this path was becoming a doctor. Yet, the prospect of going through medical school (fulfilling undergraduate prerequisites, MCATS, applications, 4 years of medical school, 3-7 years of residency, and the licensure and certification that happens during it) isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea.

Fortunately, this same demand for great people in healthcare has also reinforced the importance of so many other existing positions in the field.

Medical Assistants for example, are expected to see employment grow by 35 percent in the next four years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, making it one of the fastest growing professions. Increasing the demand for Medical Assistants is the fact that they are also now finding employment in both private and public hospitals, as well as inpatient and outpatient facilities.

And it doesn’t take a decade either. Most programs can be completed in 8 months time, part time, so you don’t even have to quit your day job. While getting certified isn’t required, it’s a safe bet as it is a way to guarantee competency of a medical assistant at a job-entry level.

At the end of the day, it all comes back to one of the primary reasons you considered healthcare in the first place. You get to help people. You also gain valuable administrative experience. So if you end up becoming a Medical Assistant (MA) you can thank technology’s advances for your job and your new iPhone.