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Questions to Ask Medical Assistant Schools
Before you can start assessing your medical assistant school alternatives, you need to determine which type of credential you want to attain, and if you would prefer attending classes on-campus or online from home. As soon as those decisions have been made, you can start the process of evaluating medical assistant schools. As we covered at the beginning of this article, many potential students confine their searches to the colleges that are closest to Chesapeake VA with the most affordable tuition. Although location and cost are important qualifications, they are by no means the only ones. There are a number of additional factors that you should explore when evaluating programs. To help you with that task, following are some questions that you should ask about each of the schools you are considering before making your ultimate selection.
Is the Medical Assistant Program Accredited? There are several good reasons to ensure that the college you choose is accredited. First, accreditation helps ensure that the instruction you receive will be both comprehensive and of the highest quality. Second, if you intend to become certified, you need to enroll in an accredited program. Two of the accepted organizations for accreditation are the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) and the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES). If your program is not accredited by one of these agencies, you will not be allowed to take the CMA examination. Also, if you plan on obtaining a student loan or financial assistance, they are normally not available for non-accredited programs. And finally, as mentioned previously, a number of prospective Chesapeake VA employers will not hire a medical assistant who has not graduated from an accredited college.
What is the School's Passage Percentage? Most of the accredited medical assistant schools develop their programs to ready students to pass one or more certification exams. To start with, you must find out which of the certifications the programs you are looking at are preparing their students to take. If you are planning on taking the CMA for instance, then obviously you will need to choose a program targeting that certification. Next, learn what the program's passage rate is for the certification and contrast it to the national average. Doing this is one of the ways to help assess the quality of a school's program. Obviously programs with lower rates are ones that you will prefer to avoid.
Which Credentials are Available? As we previously covered, there are generally two paths to getting medical assistant training. You can select a certificate or diploma program and obtain entry level training in the shortest amount of time, starting at just 6 months, although the average is closer to 1 year. Or you can decide to acquire an Associate Degree and receive a more comprehensive education that will require approximately two years to finish in a community college or vocational school. Whichever program you decide to pursue, confirm that the colleges you are considering provide the kind of program you have an interest in.
Are Internships Sponsored? A large number of medical assistant colleges offer internship programs with Chesapeake VA area medical care providers. They are a great method to get hands-on clinical training and experience. They may also assist students establish relationships within the Chesapeake health care community. And as an additional perk, they are an advantage on resumes and for job interviews too.
Is Job Placement Assistance Supplied? Finding that initial job can be a difficult task for medical assistant school graduates unless they obtain a little assistance from a job placement program. Verify that the colleges you are evaluating offer job placement assistance in the Chesapeake VA area and ask what their placement rate is. If a program has a high job placement rate for its graduates, it indicates that it has an excellent reputation within the healthcare community. It also suggests that it has a wide network of contacts to help place students in positions.
How Large are the Classes? Class size might be an indication of how much personal instruction you will receive throughout your training. Small classes and classes with a higher teacher to student ratio are more prone to offer increased access to instructors and one-on-one interaction. If convenient, try to sit in on a few classes before enrolling in a program to experience what the teaching atmosphere is like and how much attention the students get.
Is Class Scheduling Accommodating? If you anticipate attending a medical assistant college while you continue to work on a full time basis, it's essential that the school you select provides classes that fit your schedule. If you have to go to classes at night or on weekends near Chesapeake VA, make certain that those times are offered. You might be able to fit your classes in easier with an online college, but you will still need to schedule all internships or clinical training that may be required. Also, ask what the policy is for making up classes that you may have to miss because of work, illness or family responsibilities.