Prepare treatment room, inventory supplies and instruments, and set up patient for attention of physician. Hand instruments and materials to physician as directed. Schedule appointments, keep medical records, and perform secretarial duties. Small towns and small employers, tend to pay lower wages than bigger ones. The workweek for Medical Assistants is usually 40 hours, Monday through Friday, but some Saturday work may be required.
Many employers hire applicants part time.
Fringe benefits include paid vacations, holidays, health and other types of insurance and retirement plans. The number of jobs for Medical Assistants is expected to grow more than twice as fast as the average for all jobs through 2005 because of expected growth in the health services industry. In fact, Medical Assistants is one of the fastest growing jobs in California. Medium size to large hospitals or clinics prefer graduates of accredited training programs and licensed medical workers. Most job opportunities will come from growing public and private health care programs.