I want to know about medical assisting field

[want2banurse09]

I am not ignoring her concerns, but since I am a Medical Assistant and have been one for many years I know that it is not the best carreer choice since most doctors only pay you minimum wage. if she would like to become a MA and is not in it for the money than I say go for it, but don't waist your money going to a vocational school for it because it will take you years to pay it off. Believe me. I did say that I have learned alot from it and am very greatfull for the doctor that I work for.

[lpnflorida]

I also am not ignoring her concerns. I paid for my daughter to become an MA, cost well over $12,000.00 no I am not kidding on that one. I tried to talk her out of it. Pay, start $9.00 /hour, do the math. Not worth what the cost was and restrictive.

[shelly304]

There is a medical assisting forum on another site. Just google medical assisting and you will find it, plus a plethera of info on what you are interested in! Good luck!

[Annie-CMA]

Last year I made a huge career change. After more than two decades running numbers, reconciling ledgers, preparing balance sheets and income statements and pushing papers in general, I became a Medical Assistant.

Was the education expensive? Yep. To the tune of approximately $13k.

Did I experience a significant reduction in pay between finance and Medical Assisting? Albeit quite painful, it was not quite as bad as I was lead to believe it would be.

I currently work in a multi-physician practice and was hired in at $12.00 per hour. (When I left my finance job I was making close to $45k per year.)

Was it worth it? In a word, YES! Why? Because I am finally living (the beginnings of) my dream!!

For-absolutely-ever I aspired to become a doctor. Well, life happened and I found myself sitting behind a desk (making awesome money in the process) with my career dream hanging on a wall. When I lost my job last year we were in a position where I could go back to school full-time and get the ball rolling.

Of course, in a perfect world, I would have enrolled directly in nursing school, instead of becoming a Medical Assistant. I decided that becoming a Medical Assistant would take me approximately seven months to do AND give me a quick foot in the door of the healthcare industry.

As a Medical Assistant I take and record vital signs, chief complaint, medical history, update the patient's medication log, perform venipuncture, capillary (for coumadin and blood sugar monitoring) puncture, urinalyses and injections.

I have also assisted physician's with irrigation and drainage of wounds, performed patient wound care, x-Ray's, patient education (diabetes, inhaler's, etc.).

I administer nebulizer treatment and irrigate ears to remove impacted wax. I perform rapid strep tests, use an autoclave, centrifuge, and an electronic prescription writing program and because almost all of our labs are sent to an off-site lab, I also create lab requisition orders.

...and that's just a start!

It is true that the credits from my Medical Assistant classes will not transfer to a college and I am okay with that. I believe that my hands-on experience will benefit me greatly in the nursing program -- which is my next step.

By the way, I take the AAMA Certification Exam on January 24th. After I pass it I will be able to use the "CMA-AAMA" credentials after my name.

Good luck in pursuing your career as an MA. "OP", feel free to email me directly if you have any questions or would like more information.

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

Thanks Annie- MA. You have validated my point. Thanks for answering her question and tending to her concerns... unlike the others. Good luck to the OP and Annie. It seems as though MA's do alot... Its not all about the money, as long as you love what you are doing. I know some MA's who make up to 22/hr. So it all depends on where you live. Not all MA programs are expensive too. They also have financial aid available to those who qualify.