Pros and Cons of a Medical Assistant Career - Midwest Technical Institute

But is medial assisting right for you? Weighing the pros and cons can help with this important decision.

What is a Medical Assistant?

Active Work: Researchers have linked sedentary working environments to chronic illnesses, including heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. Sitting all day is a big part of the problem.[8] Fortunately for many medical assistants their work usually has them on their feet for most of the day.[9]
Stimulating Work: With their busy schedules and variety of responsibilities, medical assistants are unlikely to have many boring days at work.
Helping People: Having a hand in helping patients recover from illnesses can be rewarding for medical assistants.

Stressful Schedule: U.S. News and World Report ranked the stress level of a medical assistant job as average. Some people could find the fast-paced schedule and multi-tasking fun and challenging but others might be overwhelmed.[10]
Limited job responsibilities: Compared to other medical occupations, like nurses or physicians, medical assistants have somewhat limited job responsibilities. Patient treatment, clinical procedures, and health assessment are mostly restricted to physicians, nurses, and other healthcare practitioners. If you want a career where you perform any of these duties, you may consider obtaining further training, for example, as a nurse or physician assistant.

Faster Training: If you don’t want to spend years in college, medical assistant training can offer quick entry into a growing field.
Flexible Scheduling: Helpful for working students or parents.
Practical Training: Some people are better hands-on learners.

Undecided on a Career: If you’re unsure what you want to do, you might want to explore your career options first before starting a post-secondary education program.

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