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What They Do
About This Career
Performs administrative and certain clinical duties under the direction of a physician. Administrative duties may include scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes. Clinical duties may include taking and recording vital signs and medical histories, preparing patients for examination, drawing blood, and administering medications as directed by physician.
This career is part of the Health Science cluster Therapeutic Services pathway.
A person in this career:
- Interviews patients to obtain medical information and measures their vital signs, weight, and height.
- Cleans and sterilizes instruments and disposes of contaminated supplies.
- Records patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records.
- Explains treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients.
- Prepares treatment rooms for patient examinations, keeping the rooms neat and clean.
- Collects blood, tissue, or other laboratory specimens, logs the specimens, and prepares them for testing.
- Shows patients to examination rooms and prepares them for the physician.
- Helps physicians examine and treat patients, handing them instruments or materials or performing such tasks as giving injections or removing sutures.
- Performs routine laboratory tests and sample analyses.
- Greets and logs in patients arriving at office or clinic.
Working Conditions and Physical Demands
People who do this job report that:
- You would often handle loads up to 10 lbs., sometimes up to 20 lbs. You might do a lot of walking or standing, or you might sit but use your arms and legs to control machines, equipment or tools.
- Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
- Exposed to disease and infections more than once a month through work such as patient care, laboratory work, and sanitation control
- Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
Working in this career involves (physical activities):
- Seeing clearly up close
- Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
- Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
Work Hours and Travel
- Regular working hours and limited travel
Specialty and Similar Careers
Careers that are more detailed or close to this career:
- Ophthalmic Assistant — Duties might include recording vision, applying eye dressage, testing eye muscles, performing diagnostic and vision tests, administering eye medications, and readying the surgical equipment.
- Ophthalmological Assistant
- Outpatient Surgery Assistant
- Certified Medical Assistant (CMA)
- Chiropractor Assistant
- Clinical Medical Assistant
- Doctor's Assistant
- Health Assistant
- Optometric Assistant
- Registered Medical Assistant (RMA)
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts national surveys of wage data by occupation in every state and in all industry divisions. These surveys are conducted through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program.
The statistics collected for one year are published the next fall. For example, 2013 wage information was published in the fall of 2014.
There are over 800 occupations in the surveys, and these occupations cover the entire U.S. labor market. The surveys ask for reports in a scale of ranges for both hourly wages and annual wages.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics for a broad category, be aware that the salary data for a specific career may differ.
For more details about how wage information is collected and calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm.
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts a national survey of over 400,000
employers in every state and in all industry divisions. This survey is conducted
through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. Every other year the
department publishes outlook information based on these surveys.
Each outlook period covers 10 years. For example, in 2003 the outlook information
was published for 2004-2014. Employers are asked to report the number of employees
in about 770 different occupations that cover the entire U.S. labor market.
From this information, staffing patterns for different industries are established.
Industry growth is projected into the future based on past trends and current economic
conditions. Industry staffing patterns are then applied to the industry projections
to obtain occupational projections.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties
of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational
category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics
for a broad category, be aware that the employment data for a specific field may
differ.
For more details about how employment information is collected and calculated by
the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
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