I Choose a Medical assistant for my profession. Medical assistants perform routine clinical and administrative duties under the direct supervision of a Physician or other health care professional. Some jurisdictions allow medical assistants to perform more advanced procedures, such as giving injections or taking X-rays, after passing a test or taking a course. The Average Annual Salary in Tennessee is $35,000 According to the International Standard Classification of Occupations, medical assistants normally require formal training in health services provision for competent performance in their jobs. Formal education usually occurs in post-secondary institutions such as vocational schools, technical institutes, community colleges, proprietary colleges, online educational programs or junior colleges. In the U.S., an institution's medical assisting program may be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs or the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools if its graduates plan to become certified or registered. Accreditation is a requirement of certification agencies such as the American Association of Medical Assistants, the American Medical Technologists and the National Health Career Association Currently there are in excess of 600 CAAHEP. Accreditation by CAAHEP, ABHES or other accreditation associations requires that the institution's medical assisting program meets specific educational standards and provides sufficient classroom, lecture, and laboratory time. Professional certification is a way to measure competency of a medical assistant at an entry-level job. Certification for medical assistants is voluntary and optional, though encouraged by the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) and a number of other certification bodies. Employers increasingly prefer or even require that the medical assistants they hire be certified. Medical assistant training programs most commonly lead to a certificate or a diploma, which take around one year to complete, or an associate's degree, which takes around two years. Study topics include medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, and programs may include a clinical internship wherein the student works as a medical assistant in a medical clinic. In the United States, medical assistants have traditionally held jobs almost exclusively in ambulatory care centers, urgent care facilities, and clinics, but this is now changing. Medical assistants now find employment in private and public hospitals, inpatient and outpatient facilities, as well as assisted living facilities. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, job prospects for medical assistants are excellent since medical assisting is predicted to be one of the nation's fastest growing occupations through 2018. In some states, (e.g., Utah), there is little if any distinction between a surgeon's assistant and a medical assistant. Both may assist the physician or surgeon in any capacity that the supervising
