What You Can Achieve as a Medical Assistant

The Medical Assistant program at Pickens Technical College is yet another popular class because it offers students entry into the booming healthcare field in Colorado. Instructor Heather Willis prepares students for a career in this industry by training them to be useful contributors to the treatment of patients and their treatment plans. Willis’s class puts students in the position to perform both front and back-office functions in our local healthcare system. Many students from this course go on to work for local health facilities.

Medical assistants perform the work that nurses and doctors rely on for their patients. Their versatility to work the back and front office in clinics, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities makes them invaluable. By front office duties, I mean registering and checking in new patients—figuring out insurance information, answering questions, etc.—speaking with and following up with patients and potential patients over the phone, scheduling appointments and sending out reminder messages, and preparing and updating medical reports and records—something that is extremely important with the increased use of electronic medical records.

These are all crucial functions for any healthcare facility, but medical assistants are being relied on even more these days to perform many back-office duties as well, such as patient tests like EKG scans and urinalysis, phlebotomy, calculating proper drug dosage calculations, and more.

PTC Prepares You as a Medical Assistant

By the end of the PTC course in Medical Assisting, students will have their Heartcode BLS Certificate and their Medical Health First Aid Certificate, which puts qualifies them for many positions at healthcare centers all over the state.

Like all PTC classes, the Medical Assisting course is heavy in hands-on experience. You’ll be learning by doing, working with medical professionals to learn how things actually operate in a healthcare facility. Working together is key in this position because medical assistants are considered part of the healthcare team for each patient. Willis ensures that her students are immersed in the skills required for the job, both from a technical aspect and from a soft-skills perspective.

What You Can Make

Now for the dollars and cents. There are several niches that candidates with medical assistant credentials can occupy in the medical industry, from phlebotomists to patient care technicians. Overall, the average salary for medical assistants in Colorado right now is $34,725. As you become more qualified, take more opportunities to increase your certifications and training, you can expect to make more, in some cases, much more.

Take that salary projection with a grain of salt. There are many positions available in the healthcare field, including some that haven’t become popular or widespread yet, that medical assistants can fill. With training in PTC’s Medical Assistant program, you’ll be able to get your foot in the door in many situations, at the very least.

Conclusion

PTC’s Medical Assistant program has an advantage over similar programs in the area because Willis and her team are plunged into the growing and changing healthcare field in Colorado, so no matter when you join, you know you’ll be getting the skills you need to succeed on the cutting edge of the healthcare system, especially in Colorado.