Eva Said:

i am currently in high school and i want to pursue a career as a medical assistant. what schooling is required?

We Answered:

Unfortunately, there aren't supposed to be too many jobs for the MA (or medical biller or coder) despite what those private $$ tech schools proclaim. The countless programs and insufficient job vacancies have left the field saturated with MAs. Even with medical billing, my cousin recently got laid off from her billing job of five years due to outsourcing to Asia/India. More and more billing companies are outsourcing overseas. Most say that nursing has more opportunities but with a lot more stress, both mentally and physically.

If still interested in MA or even nursing (either lpn/practical nursing or registered nurse), please consider the more affordable county vo-tech school or community college as long as the program is accredited within the industry.

For general career info: http://www.bls.gov/oco and can search 'registered nurses', 'licensed practical nurses', 'medical assistants' or such.

Please steer clear of those online, for-profit schools such as penn foster, stratford career, US career, capella, ITT tech, sanford brown, devry, walden, kaplan, strayer, university of phoenix and others as they are merely out to 'make a profit' (and the credits may not transfer to other colleges): http://www.ripoffreport.com and can type into search.

US colleges: http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ

The local hospital or nursing home may have a need for junior volunteers. For other possible opportunities: http://www.volunteermatch.org

Billy Said:

Is a career as Medical Assistant a good move?

We Answered:

I used to be a medical assistance at a planned parenthood and I did enjoy it. I liked venipuncture and assisting the doctor. I think you'll like it, but the only thing I have noticed is it's not that easy to get a job at it..atleast here in Jersey there weren't too many ads posted looking for NA's. I wish you luck and if you want to go for it...just do it.