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Medical Office Assistant/Specialist Major

Medical Office Assistant/Specialist

1 Bachelor's Degrees Annually
#1,109 in Popularity

Types of Degrees Medical Office Assistant/Specialist Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many medical office assistant/specialist graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level Number of Grads
Basic Certificate 1,993
Undergraduate Certificate 1,314
Associate Degree 833

What Medical Office Assistant/Specialist Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to medical office assistant/specialist and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Medical Office Assistant/Specialist Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in medical office assistant/specialist should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

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  • Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
  • English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
  • Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
  • Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
  • Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

Skills for Medical Office Assistant/Specialist Majors

A major in medical office assistant/specialist prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

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  • Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
  • Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
  • Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Abilities for Medical Office Assistant/Specialist Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a medical office assistant/specialist student include the following:

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  • Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Can You Do With a Medical Office Assistant/Specialist Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with medical office assistant/specialist:

Job Title Job Growth Rate Median Salary
Medical Assistants 29.0% $33,610
Medical Secretaries 22.5% $35,760

Some degrees associated with medical office assistant/specialist may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for medical office assistant/specialist careers below.

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Education Level Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED) 24.4%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production) 42.3%
Some College Courses 25.0%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree) 9.8%

Online Medical Office Assistant/Specialist Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level Colleges Offering Programs Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year) 0 0
Certificate (1-2 years) 123 18
Certificate (2-4 Years) 1 0
Associate’s Degree 63 15
Bachelor’s Degree 0 0
Post-Baccalaureate 0 0
Master’s Degree 0 0
Post-Master’s 0 0
Doctor’s Degree (Research) 0 0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice) 0 0
Doctor’s Degree (Other) 0 0

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to medical office assistant/specialist.

Major Number of Grads
Health Care Management 29,812
Health Information/Medical Records Technology/Technician 10,462
Medical Insurance Coding Specialist/Coder 9,463
Medical Insurance Specialist/Medical Biller 9,252
Medical Administrative/Executive Assistant & Medical Secretary 7,299
Hospital & Health Care Facilities Administration/Management 3,686
Health Information Management 2,960
Medical Office Management/Administration 2,810
Other Health & Medical Administrative Services 2,008
Medical/Health Management & Clinical Assistant/Specialist 1,278
Medical Reception/Receptionist 913
Clinical Research Coordinator 328
Healthcare Innovation 197
Long Term Care Administration/Management 182
Health Unit Coordinator/Ward Clerk 140
Medical Office Computer Specialist/Assistant 114
Regulatory Science/Affairs 94
Medical Transcription/Transcriptionist 79
Health Unit Manager/Ward Supervisor 35
Medical Staff Services Technology/Technician 32
Healthcare Information Privacy Assurance and Security 8
Disease Registry Data Management 6
Health/Medical Claims Examiner 4

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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