Becoming a Medical Assistant is an excellent investment in your future. Medical assistants are projected to be among America’s fastest-growing occupations through the year 2018, so people with medical assistant training will continue to be in high demand. Within less than a year medical assistant training classes can provide you with all of the skills you need to become certified. Depending on the size, location and specialty of the doctor, the roles of trained medical assistants vary from one workplace to another. In smaller offices, assistants will frequently perform both administrative and clinical duties. In this case, you would generally report directly to a physician or other health practitioner. Medical Assistants in larger practices tend to specialize in a particular area under the supervision of department administrators. Assistants who specialize have additional duties. Podiatric medical assistants make castings of feet, expose and develop X-rays, and assist podiatrists in surgery. Ophthalmic medical assistants help ophthalmologists provide medical eye care. They administer diagnostic tests, measure and record vision, and test eye muscle function. They also show patients how to insert, remove, and care for contact lenses; and they apply eye dressings. Under the direction of the physician, they may administer eye medications. They also maintain optical and surgical instruments and may assist the ophthalmologist in surgery. Read the rest of this entry »