Registered medical assistants are professionals who perform both administrative and clinical patient care duties in a healthcare facility.
They prepare patients for treatment and exams and assist physicians during patient visits by obtaining medical information such as vital signs, weight, and height, collecting blood samples, and conducting basic lab tests. They also commonly perform electrocardiograms and prepare and administer medications or injections as directed by the physician.
Registered medical assistants' administrative duties include scheduling appointments, answering phones, and updating electronic health records with patient medical histories, vital statistics, and test results. They also manage medical billing needs, fill out insurance forms, handle patient correspondence, perform bookkeeping and accounting tasks, and use administrative medical software.
Registered medical assistants need an associate's degree or a medical assistant certification. Degree in hand, they're then qualified for other certifications. These include Registered Medical Assistant (RMA), National Certified Medical Assistant NCMA), Certified Medical Assistant (CMA), and Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA).
On average, registered medical assistants earn about $15.42 an hour or $26,000 to $41,000 a year.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a registered medical assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.94 an hour? That's $33,162 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 23% and produce 154,900 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many registered medical assistants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, detail oriented and interpersonal skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a registered medical assistant, we found that a lot of resumes listed 10.0% of registered medical assistants included vital signs, while 10.0% of resumes included patient care, and 6.9% of resumes included exam rooms. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the registered medical assistant job title. But what industry to start with? Most registered medical assistants actually find jobs in the health care and non profits industries.
If you're interested in becoming a registered medical assistant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 10.6% of registered medical assistants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.8% of registered medical assistants have master's degrees. Even though some registered medical assistants have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a registered medical assistant. When we researched the most common majors for a registered medical assistant, we found that they most commonly earn associate degree degrees or diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on registered medical assistant resumes include bachelor's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a registered medical assistant. In fact, many registered medical assistant jobs require experience in a role such as medical assistant. Meanwhile, many registered medical assistants also have previous career experience in roles such as certified nursing assistant or medical assistant externship.
