If you're interested in working in health care but don't want to spend years getting a degree as a nurse or a doctor, you should consider a career as a medical office assistant.  Getting your diploma as a medical office assistant can take less than a year and it is a job that is in demand.  Certification programs are available all across Canada in both real time class rooms and in online classes.  While programs do vary in timelines, it is quite common to take your degree or certification course and be back in the workforce in under a year!

Students who take a degree course as a medical office assistant can expect to learn skills such as:

• Filing insurance papers
• Transcribing medical notes
• Coding
• Preparing lab samples
• Medical terminology
• Obtaining and recording vital signs
• Radiology and diagnostic imaging
• And many others!

Business colleges are the most typical places where you will find medical office assistant degree courses.  Not only will you obtain the knowledge that you need to become a medical office assistant but you will likely get invaluable help in finding a job.  Many business colleges include a work practicum with the course so that you get real life experience that you might have to fight for otherwise!

Of course, you'll also develop skills in some of the most highly required skill sets that medical offices are looking for today.  You'll learn to communicate effectively in writing and verbally.  Since the medical assistant is usually the first person that patients come into contact with it is also essential that you have superior interpersonal skills.  And, since you'll be working on a computer every day, computer skills that you learn when you take a course as a medical office assistant will help you go far.

The job of a medical office assistant is very rewarding and there are a lot of jobs available to you when you have a degree.  You can enter the health care field in the near future.  Just check out your options!