Medical Administrative Assistant

Courses

Major Description

Medical Administrative Assistant: This major is designed to prepare students to work in a variety of medical-related fields. Specialized medical courses include medical office procedures, medical terminology, anatomy and physiology. Insurance claim processing, insurance coding and medical transcription are covered in medical office procedures class. Students will also complete various courses in communications and become proficient in using current software applications for word processing, spreadsheets and presentation graphics.

Medical Transcriptionist: A Medical Transcriptionist is a medical language specialist who interprets and transcribes dictation by physicians and other healthcare professionals about patient assessment, workup, therapeutic procedures, clinical course and other medical processes. Their work documents patient care and facilitates delivery of healthcare services. This type of work requires excellent grammar and punctuation ability in order to edit dictated material for grammar and clarity. Specialized medical courses include medical office procedures, medical terminology, anatomy and physiology and medical transcription.

Nature of Work

Medical Administrative Assistant: Will serve as administrative assistant in hospitals, clinics, physicians' offices, insurance companies and other medical-related organizations. They perform a number of duties, including composing correspondence, coding diagnoses and procedures, completing insurance forms, controlling doctors' schedules, preparing professional presentations, scheduling patient appointments, maintaining patient files, transcribing reports and many other duties.

Medical Transcriptionist: May transcribe hospital and clinic dictation involving patient chart notes, history and physicals, x-ray reports, consultations, operative reports, pathology reports, autopsies, discharge summaries and a variety of other medical reports. The medical transcriptionist serves as an editor of medical documents with the implementation of speech-recognition software in many healthcare facilities. Careers are found in hospitals, clinics, extended-care facilities, medical research groups, health departments and firms that provide medical transcription services. Transcriptionists may also work from home.

Medical Receptionist: The job may include scheduling patient appointments, explaining clinic policy to patients, receiving and delivering messages, processing incoming and outgoing mail, receiving calls from hospital labs and x-ray, taking prescription refill messages, scheduling patient hospital admissions, filing medical reports and insurance forms and maintaining the receptionist area.

Career Opportunities

Skilled graduates are needed in every phase of medicine, both in research and private practice. Students find challenging careers in hospitals, clinics and insurance companies. Further education, experience and initiative are qualifications for salary increases and promotions.

Program Delivery

Students can begin this program Fall or Spring semester. Courses are offered primarily during day but some evening classes may be available. Full- or part-time starts are available.

Advanced Standing

Previous college courses, certification, licensure and training may be considered for credit in the major. The responsibility for seeking credit rests with the student and can be initiated by completing the course SMGT2950 Prior Experiential Learning Portfolio Development (1 elective credit).

MOS Certification

DCTC offers courses to prepare students for the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification exam. MOS is the globally recognized standard for validating expertise with the Microsoft Office suite of business productivity software. For more information call 651-423-8428.

Program Prerequisite

A two-minute typing test will be given before students can take OFFC1005 Keyboarding/Formatting. Students must achieve a speed of 35 words per minute with five or fewer errors to be admitted to the course. If students do not type at this level, they must successfully complete OFFC1000 Basic Keyboarding prior to registering for OFFC1005 Keyboarding/Formatting.

After DCTC

DCTC has transfer agreements for this program with the following colleges: Southwest Minnesota State University and Saint Mary's University. See Transfer Credits for more information.

Student Outcomes

  1. Graduates will be prepared for immediate employment in their respective fields.
  2. Graduates will have successfully completed coursework in a simulated office environment.
  3. Graduates will be able to utilize software applications to produce documents.
  4. See General Education outcome statement.

Academic Advisor

Dean

  • Gary Hebert
    Dean of Customized Training, Technology and Business and Professional Development

Faculty

Susan Johanson 651-423-8239 susan.johanson@dctc.edu BIO
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