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Unit 1 Health Informatics Career Pathway
Medical assistants usually complete a one- or two-year training
program that includes an internship. Interns spend time at a healthcare
facility performing the skills they have learned in school. This work is
part of their training program and is usually unpaid. They are supervised
by a healthcare employee and by a school instructor. Graduates of medical
assistant programs can become certifi ed and choose a specialty area such
as podiatry (puh-DI-uh-tree)—a medical practice concerning the feet—or
ophthalmology (ahf-thal-MAH-luh-jee), a medical practice concerned with
the eyes. Experienced assistants can advance to other occupations, such as
offi ce management, nursing, or laboratory technology, through additional
training or education.
Health Educators
Helping patients use information to prevent illness and manage
chronic conditions is becoming more important as healthcare costs
increase. Health educators have at least a bachelor’s degree and work with
both individual patients and groups of people in a variety of locations.
In medical offi ces, they educate patients about their diagnoses. On
college campuses, they teach students about healthy lifestyle choices.
As public health workers, they give out information to the media and
the public during an emergency. Think about a past outbreak of an
illness like infl uenza (the fl u) in your community. Did you see signs
about vaccination clinics or hear advice about hand washing to reduce
infections? These were produced by a public health worker.
Health Educators and the Public: Adam
Health educators help people by providing health-
related, scientific information. Adam loves science
and chose biology as his major in college. He became
a biotechnology (bI-oh-tehk-NAH-luh-jee) research
scientist and worked to develop new products to prevent
and treat disease.
internship
practical work or training
experience that allows
students to apply what they
have learned in class
Figure 2.5 Tasks of a Medical Assistant
Administrative/Clerical Clinical
scheduling
• hospital admissions
• clinic appointments
• laboratory services
filing insurance forms
answering the telephone
greeting patients
writing letters and memos
updating patient records
processing billing
taking medical histories
recording vital signs
assisting with examinations
performing basic lab tests
collecting and preparing laboratory
specimens
instructing patients about medication and
special diets
authorizing prescription refills as directed
drawing blood