PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ASSISTANT PROGRAM
The Professional Medical Assistant program is a residential program offered within an active healthcare setting delivered using didactic, laboratory, observational, and experiential-learning instructional types. It has been designed to prepare students for an exciting career in medicine, one of the most prestigious service industries in our society. The demands of the modern medical office created by a medical system strained by a growing population, economic realities, the lack of a uniform entry standard, and rapidly advancing technology, makes innovation in training of the medical workforce absolutely necessary. With this training Kino College graduates will have an advantage in the marketplace and will be more desirable to employers having participated in this progressive program. It is the goal of this program that Kino College graduates will have a competitive advantage for success in the best jobs available in the medical community.
Taught primarily by active and former medical practitioners, the program prepares students desiring to work as a Medical Assistant with healthcare and administrative skills for success in medical offices, urgent care facilities, schools, hospitals and clinics, or for further advancement in a specialized field. The program further distinguishes itself among the medical assisting training community with its focus on medical specialties and clinical training. The curriculum utilizes a systems approach similar to that used to train physicians and other medical professionals. Critical thinking and problem solving are integrated throughout the curriculum to prepare students to meet the demands of the rapidly changing medical environment.
The program provides compulsory knowledge in the arts and sciences of modern medicine necessary for a successful career as a Medical Assistant. It promotes personal and professional development, self-confidence, maturity, ethical conduct and integrity, all of which are strongly desired in a professional person and are highly sought by employers. Students are guided through the culture of medicine with training in medical terminology, medico-legal issues, and professional ethics. Teaching methods that integrate learning styles balance instruction in the major clinical areas with the administrative, secretarial, and laboratory sciences.
Program Objectives
At the conclusion of the Professional Medical Assistant Program students will:
- Apply standard practice of care and maintain the confidentiality and privacy of patient information according to HIPAA and other regulations.
- Perform clinical skills, e.g., rooming patients, obtaining vital signs, sterilizing instruments, performing venipuncture, collecting lab samples.
- Use appropriate medical nomenclature in the performance of their work in a medical practice or specialty.
- Exercise critical thinking skills in the performance of their job duties.
- Calculate medication dosages.
Physical Demands
As the program has experiential components, students will be required to perform a variety of tasks that they would experience in the profession that involve dexterity, endurance and physical strength. Such demands may include but are not limited to:
- Walking, standing and sitting for extended periods of time.
- Pushing, pulling, and carrying up to 10 lbs. of force constantly, up to 20 lbs. of force frequently, up to 50 lbs. of force occasionally, and safely support the full weight of a patient.
- Reaching, bending, stooping, and kneeling.
- Manual dexterity, tactile sensitivity and quantitative reasoning (performing calculations).
- Seeing (close, distance and peripheral), hearing, speaking and writing (e.g., labeling a Vacutainer).
