According to the US Department of Labor "Medical Assistants is projected to be one of the fastest growing occupations over the 2004-14 period."

Medical Assistants perform a wide variety of duties in physicians offices depending on the size of the medical office. In smaller solo or two physician practices the duties of the Medical Assistant may include some front desk work. These front desk responsibilities vary from signing in and greeting patients to scheduling visits and patient testing and admissions.

However, due to the high costs of physician liability insurance, rent and salaries, mega-medical practices are the norm today. These are medical practices that have 15-25 physicians. Generally in a practice like this duties are broken down and are very delineated between front office and back office. Duties such as greeting the patient, answering the phone, scheduling appointments and dealing with insurance would be the responsibility of secretaries and insurance specialists trained in front office duties.

The Medical Assistant would be responsible for back office duties exclusively. These duties would include preparing the patient for the exam, taking a patient history, checking blood pressure and pulse, perhaps performing an EKG. The Medical Assistant would be responsible for drawing blood and assisting the physician during routine office procedures, depending on the type of medical practice.

In the past most Medical Assistants received on the job training. All that was required for someone to become a Medical Assistant was a high school diploma. Today, as more medical practices are specializing and as services rendered in physician offices become more complex these medical practices are looking for Medical Assistants who have had formal schooling and hold a degree in Medical Assisting.

If you are thinking of pursuing a degree as a Medical Assistant there are many different types of specialized Medical Assistant degrees to choose from in a variety of specialties including cardiovascular medicine, internal medicine, ophthalmologic, dental, and pediatric. Each of these medical specialities have specific types of office treatments and testing which makes obtaining a degree as a Medical Assistant in a particular field of medicine invaluable when seeking a job.