Medical assistants probably outnumber every other employee category in a clinic because they form a vital link between physician and patient, and they can perform many different tasks.

To be certified as a medical assistant, a student must attend a school accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (www.caahep.org) or by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (www.abhes.org), according to Michelle Blesi, program director of Medical Assisting at Century College in White Bear Lake (www.century.edu).

Century offers a 48-credit diploma program, including a 300-hour clinical externship. Prerequisites include English composition, interpersonal/intercultural communications, human biology or anatomy and physiology, and psychology. Career requirements include a software or microcomputer course, medical terminology, laboratory techniques, clinical assisting and medical administrative procedures.

Externships give students hands-on experience

At the University of Minnesota Physicians Phalen Village Clinic in St. Paul, one of Century's 70 clinical externship sites, students rotate through administration, patient care, laboratory and x-ray in eight weeks, according to Mary Beth Collins, patient care supervisor at Phalen.

On the administrative end, they learn computer scheduling, telephone skills and how to work with the electronic medical record. "That's really helpful to them when they go out on a job, because virtually all the clinics have converted to electronic medical records," Collins says.

In the laboratory, they learn to draw blood and run tests such as blood counts, glucose and cholesterol levels. They also work with a microscope, perform rapid-kit strep tests and load test results into a computer for physician review.

Patient contact included

The remainder of their externship is in patient care - rooming patients, checking vital signs, gathering information about medications and immunizations, and performing electrocardiograms, x-rays, and hearing, vision and diabetes tests. They do a lot of injections and educate patients about asthma and diabetes.

"The medical assistant is really key in coordinating the patient's care, particularly in their primary care, facilitating that care from the very beginning of the appointment throughout the time they see the physician, but also then through post-visit care and follow-up care after the patient leaves," Collins explains.

A growing need

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates employment of medical assistants will grow 36 percent from 2006 to 2016. Blesi says they may expect to start earning $13 to $15 an hour, and may progress to $22 an hour in the Twin Cities. Medical assistants may also move into management positions, such as clinic managers.

Students must have good people skills, be able to multi-task and work in teams, Blesi says. "The job outlook is great," she adds. "Now we're probably at about 95 percent job placement."