Medical Assisting

If you enjoy working in a caregiver setting, helping both physicians and patients, the accelerated Medical Assisting Program at Santa Fe Community College can quickly prepare you for a rewarding career working in a physician's office and other health care settings.

Medical Assisting

A medical assistant, often a patient’s first contact with a caregiver, plays a crucial role in setting the tone and contributing to the success of the patient’s treatment. Medical assistants are multi-skilled practitioners who perform a wide range of administrative tasks, including greeting patients and using computers to make patient appointments, billing, and maintaining accurate medical records. Their clinical duties can include assisting with medical exams, conducting basic laboratory tests, drawing blood, EKGs, preparing patients for X-rays, giving medication, and assisting with minor office surgical procedures.

To become a certified medical assistant, you’ll take courses in clinical, laboratory and administrative procedures and professional development. Courses are sequenced to build skill level. SFCC’s accredited program prepares you to take the National Certification Exam, and readies you to work as an entry-level medical assistant in doctor’s offices, walk-in clinics, ambulatory centers and specialized areas in hospitals. Our Medical Assistant program is set to prepare medical assistants who are competent in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains to enter the profession. (Request information on Medical Assisting) The SFCC Medical Assisting Program has no articulation agreements available.

Medical assistants earn an annual median salary of $37,190. Employment of medical assistants is projected to grow 18 percent by 2030, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This program is accredited by Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) upon the recommendation of the Medical Assisting Education Review Board (MAERB).

Application Process

To start the admission process, students who are interested, must have taken the following prerequisites and complete a separate Medical Assistant Program Application in addition to SFCC’s general application.

Prerequisites for the MAST program

These classes need to be completed before starting MAST courses:

MAST 111 Intravenous Therapy

HLCR 113 Medical Terminology

PSYC 1110 Introduction to Psychology

AHAC 151 Basic Life Support For Healthcare Providers