Medical Assistant

The mission of the program is to provide a comprehensive medical assisting education to diverse student populations, promoting their ability to achieve quality of life for themselves and others as multi-skilled allied health workers. Students placed in the Medical Assistant program will work in a simulated office setting performing administrative and clinical medical assisting duties. The program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. Medical assisting is an exciting occupation offering a variety of tasks to those wishing to work in an allied health occupation. The goals of the program are:

1. To promote the medical assisting program to meet the employment needs of the community.
2. To provide a learning experience to assist graduates in performing administrative clinical skills in an allied health setting.
3. To provide a high quality education to ensure that graduates demonstrate basic level competencies.
4. To prepare students to successfully complete the CMA examination.

Classroom and Laboratory Time
Classroom and lab instruction is varied from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Students will fulfill the 180-hour practicum requirements by working in physicians' offices. Daily attendance is mandatory. Students dress professionally during practicum and wear a laboratory coat or scrubs on clinical days. Practicum is a supervised, non-paid work experience.

Certification
Graduates of accredited medical assisting programs may sit for the Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) Credential exam. The student fee for the certification exam is $125, and students may apply through the American Association of Medical Assistants.

Admission
Students are selected on a point system, reviewed by the Medical Assisting Advisory Board. In the event that there are more applications than seats available, the applicants having the highest points will be admitted to the program.

Academic Plan