Career Overview Medical assisting requires a special kind of person, someone with genuine concern, who enjoys helping and caring for others. Medical assistants are an integral part of the medical team, working side by side with physicians and technicians in pursuit of quality health care. Missouri College graduates are qualified for many positions in the medical field. Medical assistants find employment in medical offices, health clinics, hospitals, medical labs, pharmaceutical companies, medical supply houses and insurance companies.
Medical assistants are the primary liaison between doctor and patient.
As a medical assistant, you chart a patient's medical history. You take height, weight, pulse, respiration, temperature, prepare and administer injections, apply bandages and dressings, and record electrocardiograms. You aid the physician in making a diagnosis by performing a variety of routine laboratory tests. Your expertise in the use of lab equipment, including microscopes, autoclaves, blood analyzers and other technical medical devices, is needed in offices and health facilities. You sterilize instruments for examination and surgery.