Medical assistants are in demand everywhere. but why not make a career an adventure by working in places that offer more than just jobs? Cities like Austin are brimming with culture, history, and entertainment. Home to dozens of world-class healthcare facilities, it’s an exciting place to train and work as a medical assistant.
What Does a Medical Assistant Do?
Medical assistants are allied health professionals. They help hospitals, clinics and doctor’s offices run smoothly by providing clinical and administrative support for licensed providers.
Clinical tasks may include:
- Taking vital signs – blood pressure, pulse, temperature, respirations, and peripheral oxygen saturation
- Administering oral and injectable medications, including vaccinations
- Assisting with surgical procedures – setting up equipment, passing instruments and monitoring patients.
- Phlebotomy – you’ll draw and process blood samples.
- Performing diagnostic tests, such as EKGs and urinalysis
- Equipment care from quality control testing to disinfecting tools and surgical instruments.
Administrative responsibilities are:
- Answering the phone – you’ll triage medical calls and direct general inquiries to the appropriate team members.
- Scheduling appointments to minimize wait times while optimizing resources.
- Recordkeeping – verifying demographic information, updating health records, and transmitting prescriptions to the pharmacy.
- Inventory management – you’ll stock exam room shelves and order medical and office supplies.
- Communication – handling mail, answering correspondence, and calling patients on the provider’s behalf.
- Billing and coding – in a clinical role, you’ll track the services provided during each encounter to ensure accurate billing. As an administrative medical assistant, you’ll code insurance forms, file claims, and assist with invoicing.
How Do I Become a Medical Assistant in Austin?
Becoming a medical assistant in Austin is as simple as completing a vocational school program. You’ll graduate with a diploma in as little as 45 weeks. The comprehensive curriculum covers both clinical and administrative skills. You’ll benefit from externships that provide real-world experience.
Programs are comprehensive, preparing you for certification. While a certificate is not required to work as a medical assistant in Texas, it makes you a more valuable job applicant.
Perks of a vocational school education include lifestyle-friendly training options, small class sizes, and job placement services. And learning in Austin positions you for a career in one of its leading medical centers.
Where Can a Medical Assistant Work in Austin?
America’s demographics are evolving, and with that comes greater opportunity. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 16% growth in employment for medical assistants through 2031. If you’re ready for a new career, there’s no more secure or rewarding field than healthcare.
In the coming decades, the senior population in the Austin area will reach new heights, so more medical assistants are being hired to keep pace with the demand for preventive healthcare services. Medical assistants in Austin can find jobs in a broad range of healthcare settings, including:
Physician’s Offices
Many medical assistants work in doctor’s offices. It’s a busy but predictable environment for new graduates to learn in. The work includes:
- Scheduling – medical assistants team up with front office colleagues to triage urgent care requests and schedule medically complex appointments.
- Stocking shelves – you’ll keep exam rooms stocked with the supplies doctors need to perform exams, such as gloves, tongue depressors, and alcohol wipes.
- Rooming patients – you’ll escort clients to treatment rooms, make them comfortable and prepare them for an exam.
- Updating health records, including medical history, allergy and medication lists, and recent vaccinations.
- Assisting with exams and procedures from preparation to clean up.
- Infection control – you’ll keep patients safe by sterilizing instruments and sanitizing exam rooms between visits.
- Drawing blood and specimen collecting – you’ll gather blood, urine, and stool for laboratory testing.
- Performing EKGs, pregnancy screens, pacemaker checks, tuberculosis tests and more.
- Giving injections such as childhood immunizations and flu shots.
- Coordinating care between medical professionals – you’ll act as a liaison between doctors, therapists, dietitians, and specialists, assisting with referrals and record transfers.
Hospitals
Austin hospitals employ medical assistants to work in the ER, medical records, outpatient departments and financial services. An energetic and fast-paced setting, the opportunities are diverse.
You won’t see the same patients as often, so personal connections are harder to make, but you’ll work on cases rarely seen in private practices. Because hospital inpatients are acutely ill, however, your duties will be more administrative than clinical in all but ambulatory care units.
Responsibilities vary by job description, but may include:
- Scheduling – in outpatient units, you’ll assist with making, changing, and confirming appointments.
- Registering patients – medical assistants help register patients for emergency evaluation and inpatient stays.
- Financial services – medical assistants often work as patient representatives, helping clients understand their insurance coverage and figure out their bills. You might also assist with billing activities such as submitting insurance claims or requesting preauthorization for services.
- Recordkeeping – medical assistants working in medical records will help doctors and patients access their health information. You’ll organize, store and safeguard paper and electronic files.
- Clerical support – as a unit clerk, a medical assistant works on a hospital floor, providing administrative support for the clinical team. You’ll handle the mail, prepare admission and discharge paperwork, order supplies and manage hospitality needs for patients and their families.
Outpatient Care Centers
Austin boasts dozens of outpatient care centers and specialty clinics. If you’re interested in a specific aspect of medicine, such as cardiology, urgent care ,or pediatrics, you won’t have to look far for a job opening.
Smaller than a hospital but larger than most private practices, clinics let you utilize both clinical and administrative skills. If you work with your vocational school to become certified as a medical assistant upon graduation, you can then pursue one of 20-plus specialty certificates in the field of your choice.
Chiropractic Offices
Medical assistants are as valuable to chiropractors as they are to medical doctors, providing essential support. Responsibilities are somewhat less clinical, but it’s an intriguing place to work if you’re passionate about alternative medicine.
Duties may include:
- Patient intake – you’ll make appointments, greet arrivals, and gather personal and insurance data.
- Patient care – like medical doctors, chiropractors perform diagnostic tests, examinations, and treatments. As a medical assistant, you’ll help with x-rays, vital signs, equipment maintenance, and infection control measures .
- Billing – medical assistants employed by chiropractors often have a managerial role overseeing operations in both the front and back offices. You might serve as the receptionist, transcriptionist, and billing specialist.
Final Thoughts
Whether you live in Texas or want an exciting metropolitan area to live and learn in, Austin is your door to success. A grand city with unlimited potential, it’s an extraordinary place in which to explore.
Want to Learn More?
The Clinical Medical Assistant Training Program at CyberTex Institute of Technology takes great care of you by providing hands-on training, practical experience and the support it takes to get started in a medical assisting career without spending years in school. You will learn the basics of both clinical and administrative skills, and prepare to work in physician’s offices, hospitals, and other medical facilities.
Contact us today to learn more about our Austin and Killeen campuses.