You're a "people person" and like the medical profession. You want to be a vital member of a healthcare team. When you think about your dream job, one that combines both medical office management and hands on patient care experience – you owe it to yourself to check out the Medical Assisting profession…

     Hospitals, doctors’ offices and clinics are businesses as well as healthcare resources. Phones must be answered, patients must be greeted and other administrative tasks performed to keep the operation running smoothly.  If you are well organized, have compassion for those who are ill, and are a good communicator, you have some of the characteristics that can lead to success as a professional in a medical office or in the medical assisting career.

     The Medical Assistant Program prepares students to work in physician’s offices and other outpatient/ambulatory care centers performing administrative tasks, patient care, and managing the medical facility.   Medical Assistants are multi-competent, multi-skilled professionals who perform a variety of tasks in the medical setting.  As a Medical Assistant, the professional must keep up with changes in healthcare and medical practice organizations. The complexity of a modern medical practice requires skilled individuals competent in both administrative and clerical duties.

The clinical duties of medical assistants include:

• Preparing patients for and assisting the physician with examinations and treatments
• Measuring and recording vital signs
• Taking and recording medical histories
• Sterilizing instruments
• Collecting laboratory specimens and samples
• Performing diagnostic tests
• Administering medications.
• Assisting with minor office surgery
• Performing cardiopulmonary testing
• Performing laboratory testing in urinalysis, hematology, and microbiology

The administrative duties include:

• Patient reception
• Obtaining patient data
• Establishing and maintaining confidential medical records
• Preparing correspondence and reports
• Handling telephone calls
• Scheduling and receiving patients
• Purchasing supplies and maintaining equipment
• Coding patient diagnoses and treatments for insurance reimbursement
• Maintaining office accounts, fees and collections
• Office and personnel management
• Computer applications
• Completing patient transactions, such as billing and collections
• Medical transcription

Graduates will be prepared for work in:

§         Medical offices

§         Clinics

§         Hospitals

§         Emergency rooms

§         Urgent care centers

§         Same-day surgery centers

§         Insurance companies

§         Private industries

Job Titles for Graduates:  

§         Administrative Medical Assistant

§         Clinical Medical Assistant

§         Medical Transcriber

§         Phlebotomist

§         Electrocardiograph (ECG) Technician

§         Medical Office Manager

Accreditation Awards:  This program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), on recommendation of the Committee of Accreditation for Medical Assistant Education.  Graduates are eligible to take a national certification examination become certified medical assistants (CMA). The CS pass rate is over 90% (national average is 70%).

Articulation Agreements currently exist with CPS Hughes High School Health Professions School and the Great Oaks Vocational School district.

Employment Outlook: The Medical Assistant is among the fastest growing occupations nationally due to technological advances in medicine and a growing and aging population needing outpatient care. The U.S. Department of Labor projects the number of medical assistant positions to grow 74% between 2001 and 2010.

Starting Salary for Graduates earnings vary with experience, skill level and geographic location, with a starting salary ranging from $9 to $13 per hour.

Program Faculty

Program Chair:  Olivia Watts

Adjunct Clinical Instructor: Marsha Thomas 

Clinical Sites

As a part of the training in the program, each student will be placed twice in a medical facility (physician’s office, clinics, ambulatory care center) for an externship.  Each student will complete 300 total hours of externship training.  Students are placed in a variety of settings where they perform skills and complete the competencies of the program.

Examples of current clinical sites include:

§         Daugherty Medical Group

§         City of Cincinnati Health Department

§         Babies Milk Fund Clinic

§         Ambulatory Clinics at 

      the Health Alliance

§         Alliance Primary Care physicians

§         Orthopedic Physicians –Tri-Health

§         G-Cap Physicians