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Medical Assistant Education

April 5th, 2012

Medical Assistant Education

As a certified medical assistant you will meet and initially assess patients while working directly under a doctor’s supervision, in addition to completing specific clinical tasks assigned by the physician. Depending on a state’s rules regarding medical assistant education requirements, some M.A.’s are allowed to do more advanced tasks such as administering drugs or performing radiological procedures. Medical assistants are also trained in the filling out and processing of insurance forms, setting up hospital admissions, assisting the attending physician in various diagnostic tests, and even removing stitches or authorizing prescription refills as directed by the supervising doctor. Along with various nursing jobs, medical assisting is looking to be one of the most rapidly growing careers in the next decade according to the United States Department of Labor.

Various education institutions such as community colleges, vocational schools or even online schools offer medical assistant education programs, which are required to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), or the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES).

There are approximately over 500 CAAHEP programs available in over 450 postsecondary schools in the United States.

Accreditation of a medical assistant education program needs to adhere to certain state-selected standards and should give the student enough class and laboratory hours in order to become a certified medical assistant. After completing your program, you must take an examination to become certified, which is administered by the AAMA Certifying Board with respect to the National Board of Medical Examiners. You can take the AAMA at any time of the year at certain testing stations located all over the U.S. You can find locations and times by asking your program advisor, but remember to ask about this exam in advance since you may be put on a waiting list in order to take the test.

After passing the AAMA, you will be considered a certified medical assistant and will have to be recertified every sixty months by either taking another test similar to the one you took to originally receive your certificate, or by furthering your education in a postsecondary school. If you would like more information regarding the AAMA, go to www.aama-ntl.org. And search the many links available for the answers you are looking for.

Financial aid is accessible to all potential medical assistant students from both the federal and private level. Medical assistant education generally takes twelve to sixteen months in order to earn a certificate, and two years to earn a bachelor’s degree. A sample of the many classes needed to obtain the title of M.A. are medical transcription and coding, laboratory techniques, medical ethics, and first aid procedures. In addition, you can continue your career in the medical profession by taking more classes in the future and becoming a registered medical assistant (RMA), a certification which has to be renewed once every three years. Labor statistics show the need for medical assistants is great and individuals who have successfully completed an accredited program rarely have any problem finding a job.

For more great information about CNA Training & Certification we have a range of great tools and resources on our website http://certifiednursesassistantcenter.com.

Minnesota’s Education Initiative

April 1st, 2012

Minnesota’s Education Initiative
There’s something new going on in some school districts. In Minnesota, for example, the newest development is an “alternative system for evaluating and paying teachers”, known as the “Q Comp program”, and has now been joined by an additional seven school districts and another 23 charter schools in the state. This brings the total participation to 51 school districts and 54 charter schools, including a few in the larger metro areas. This “education initiative” was enacted by Gov. Tim Pawlenty and is seeing fruition in his last month of office.

The tech revolution continues to sweep the nation in tons of classrooms everywhere. The Minnesota Department of Education has taken a front-row seat in integrating tech in the classroom. The Department is using the popular application, iTunes, in collaboration with its parent company, to upload “state approved lessons for teachers and preschool through high school students,” said Pawlenty.

Those that participate are given an additional 0 per student from the state and “additional levy authority.” Combined, that means the participating districts are receiving 4 million dollars. Those in the Q Comp program follow the prescribed system of development and evaluation for teachers with the caveat that teachers evaluate each other’s performance. Another stipulation is that a teacher’s pay will be linked to their student’s test scores.

These changes hearkened to President Barack Obama’s grant program named “Race to the Top”, however Minnesota did not receive any money from the grant at that time.

Teachers are apprehensive about their pay being based on student performance, said Julia Blaha, the chapter president of the teachers union in Anoka-Hennepin. However, they do like the idea of getting feedback from their professional peers. Peer evaluation is a three times a year assessment of their teaching performance, with at least one assessment coming from a teacher who taught the same subject.

With an increasingly tech-savvy generation on their hands, school officials and law makers decided to join by adding teaching lessons andlearning online. It will act as a go between source for both teachers and students; for teachers, a resource for lessons, and for students, a type of digital library. All uploads by teachers or students will go through a screening process to see if they meet the state standard for education and are appropriate for each audience section.

So far, nearly 700 files have been uploaded and can be accessed at any time. They can range anywhere from “algebra lessons to a behind-the-scenes look at the Minnesota Zoo.” Those in the department expect to see a rise in the amount of data collected as more participate in the Q comp program.

Sarah writes about Online Education for University-bound.com – a resource site for those interested in earning a degree online.