Healthcare professions are experiencing record growth. Michigan's medical trade schools can prepare you for a medical assisting career, among the fastest-growing vocational groups in the nation.

By Gabby Hyman
RWM Columnist
October 17, 2006

America's healthcare professions comprise the fastest-growing vocational sector in the country. From top to bottom -- surgeons to medical assistants -- healthcare facilities in Michigan face the same growth pains and staff shortages experienced throughout the nation. Trade and technical schools across Michigan currently offer medical office assisting degrees and certificates that can speed you into this rewarding profession.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the surge of baby boomers requiring medical care, coupled with a rising number of retiring healthcare professionals, has created the dramatic shortfall in medical staffing. If you are currently in a medical assisting vocational program or are considering enrolling, you're in good hands. The BLS reports that medical assisting jobs for grads of postsecondary vocational schools will experience exceptional growth through 2014.

Michigan's Cross-state Medical Technical Schools
Medical assisting trade programs typically run from one to two years and are designed to prepare you for the workplace as quickly as possible, given technical training requirements. The BLS reports that six out of every ten medical assistants work in private physicians' offices and clinics, combining administrative and clinical duties. The 387,000 medical assistants who held jobs in the country in 2004 also worked in hospitals, outpatient care facilities, laboratories, and offices of chiropractors and dentists.

Here in Michigan, you'll find trade school programs in medical assisting in Dearborn, Southfield, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Detroit. Curriculum varies, but you can anticipate coursework in medical terminology, anatomy, physiology, accounting, clinical ethics, computer skills, medical record transcription and software.

Depending on your vocational orientation, your chosen medical trade school may also focus on diagnostic and vital signs proficiencies, elementary pharmacology, insurance coding and bookkeeping, patient assisting, and laboratory procedures.

Diverse Technical Skills Need Apply
The BLS reports that healthcare employers honor both one-year certificates in medical assisting and two-year associate's degrees from medical trade schools. Some employers prefer hiring vocational school grads who have also obtained professional certifications. The American Association of Medical Assistants and American Medical Technologists are among the prominent national certifying organizations. Michigan's medical assisting programs offer direct coursework to qualify their grads to sit for workplace certification exams.

Since programs vary by scope and course offering, it's a good idea to evaluate trade schools across Michigan to determine which technical school is right for you.

Source
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

About the Author
Gabby Hyman has created online strategies and written content for Fortune 500 companies including eToys, GoTo.com, Siebel Systems, Microsoft Encarta, Avaya, and Nissan UK.