In hospitals and doctors’ offices everywhere, medical assistants are the undersung heroes. They build the first connection with the patient, help the doctor collect important info, and set the tone for the rest of the interaction.
The medical assistant program at Orange Tech College will prepare you for this gratifying role. In this program, you’ll learn how to assist with patient exams and treatments, how to perform basic lab tests and emergency procedures, and how to administer medical insurance and finance procedures.
Becoming a Medical Assistant
How do you know if a career in the medical field is right for you? If you have always been compassionate and caring, work well under pressure, and aren’t afraid of bodily fluids, you’ll fit right into the medical field. Pursuing a medical assistant certification from Orange Tech will help you decide whether this career is right for you, while learning some crucial job skills along the way.
Completing the medical assistant program will take 1300 class hours, or just over a year if you’re in school full time. Upon program completion, you’ll take the Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) and Registered Medical Assistant (RMA) exams, and you’ll be ready to begin work or continue your education.
Read on to learn more about Orange Tech’s medical assistant program and where the courses can take you.
Why Become a Medical Assistant?
There are plenty of benefits in choosing a career as a medical assistant.
- Job security: Healthcare is a very stable career path, as there is always a need for medical professionals in a variety of locations across the country and even the globe. Becoming a medical assistant can open your career to a literal world of possibilities.
- Short training period: Obtaining a medical assistant certification from Orange Tech will take 1300 credit hours, or just over a year. You’ll be ready to work in a fraction of the time it would take for a four-year degree.
- Diverse responsibilities within patient care: If you’d like to focus your career in a specific direction, you can get certifications in fields like pediatrics, oncology or endocrinology, ensuring that your work takes you directly where you want to go.
- Opportunities for career advancement: From direct nursing care to working as an administrator and every job imaginable in between, the career pathway for a medical assistant is lined with opportunity.
- Make a difference: Sure, a medical assistant job can be challenging work, but it’s also incredibly fulfilling. You can leave each shift knowing that you helped someone through a difficult time and left a tangible difference in their life.
Why Orange Tech?
Since 1933, Orange Tech College in Orlando, Florida, has been preparing students for work with their array of programs across five campuses. Better yet, it’s cost-effective: most programs cost well under $10k, meaning students can begin their career without the debt many others face.
Other Medical Programs at Orange Tech
Once you’ve obtained your medical assistant certification, you can advance your career by completing other programs at Orange Tech. The Health Science department at Orange Tech includes many other programs, all of which will prepare you for a rewarding career.
- Dental Assisting Technology and Management: Assist dentists by learning dental anatomy, terminology and equipment utilization.
- Massage Therapy: Share the gift of muscle relaxation with this program, which teaches massage techniques and spa treatments.
- Medical Coder/Biller: Looking to work in the front office? This program teaches you medical terminology and coding systems among many other important skills for this work.
- Medical Laboratory Assisting: Help out in the laboratory by learning lab safety, electrocardiography and phlebotomy techniques, and quality assurance with this program.
- Patient Care Assistant: If you’re looking to advance your career as a nurse, try this program, which will teach you how to assist nurses with sterile procedures and performing dressing changes with a focus on the nurse-patient relationship.
- Pharmacy Technician: Work in the pharmacy by learning pharmacology, pharmacy law and much more in this program.
- Surgical Technology: If you’re interested in performing surgery, this program will help by teaching you how to prepare the operating room and all the proper techniques during surgery.
- Phlebotomy: Prepare yourself for a career in phlebotomy by learning how to properly take and preserve blood specimens, among other tasks.
What’s next?
If you’re ready for a career that can go anywhere you want to go, consider becoming a medical assistant. Take the first step by requesting information from an Orange Tech rep today.