Florida Medical Assistant

[Joel954]

Im preparing to go to school for the MA program. I was wondering what others experiences are of being a MA. I really just wanted to be a phlebtomist but this position seems like it pays more. The course is 1200 hours (about 10 months) and an externship is included in the program.

[jedi-medic]

Hi Joel! Good luck with your MA program. I thought I would share some of my experience as an MA.

Firstly, I love it very much. I love patient care and I love working with doctors. Most clinics are open Mon-Fri, sometimes with rotating Saturdays, so a typical MA schedule is 8-5 during the weekdays. If you work in urgent care, you schedule can vary greatly!

MA scope of practice may vary from state to state, or even from office to office. This has been my experience thus far: Patient intake or triage, vital signs, medication administration, allergy testing, spirometry, vaccination administration, calling in prescriptions on behalf of my provider, sending or denying prescription refill requests per office protocol, phone triage, prior authorizations, wound care, splinting, ear irrigation, eye irrigation, EKG, setting up sterile fields, suture removal, phlebotomy, clia-waved lab testing for strep, flu, RSV, mono, glucose, INR, UA, pregnancy, etc., patient education, and visual acuity.

As you can see, depending on the job you land, you have an opportunity to perform a variety of tasks, procedures, or duties in an office. Those tasks may be limited, if you work in a specialty office. I have no idea what ortho MAs or dermatology MAs do, but I hear their jobs are fun! You work directly for a doctor, and may work with another MA, or a nurse. You may also be cross trained to help with reception duties.

As far a pay goes, I'm pretty sure that varies from state to state. I'm certainly not getting rich from working as an MA, but my pay is definitely decent. I can't complain.

I hope you do well in school and find your MA career to be rewarding. :)