Earning your Medical Assisting Degree and balancing your time - FTC Florida Technical College

Earning your Medical Assisting Degree and balancing your time

medical assisting degree and personal life

Have you been putting your future on hold?

 

Florida Technical College offers medical assistant classes that could have you earning a Medical Assisting Degree during your spare time.

Getting a degree in Medical Assisting has never been more possible. With the demands of a busy work schedule and home life, many are choosing to return to Technical Institutes to advance their skillset and career path. With an open enrollment policy, earning an Associate Degree in Medical Assisting from Florida Technical College allows you to manage your time and start your future now. Here’s why earning an Associate in Medical Assisting is the right choice for your busy schedule.

 

Flexible Classes

Technical schools preparing for a medical assisting degree offer their students a variety of class times, including day and night classes, as well as online programs. These flexible class times allow students to maintain a job while completing the requirements for their medical assisting degree. Community and Technical Colleges are the leading providers for online learning, allowing students to remain focused on their professional lives, not having to take time off for classes.

While online classes are always an option that makes time management easier while in school, students should assess their individual skills before deciding which route will benefit them most. Some of these assessments include considering your knowledge of computer programs and technology, your level of reading comprehension, and the time you are able to devote to each online course. Not only can class instruction time be scheduled to suit your own individual needs, the required laboratory portions for medical assistant classes and medical assistant externships are often offered during night hours, as well as during the day.

While earning a medical assisting degree, students are required to complete 160 hours in an externship. Students earn class credits towards their degree with the completion of their externship, which offers an expansive array of medical offices, or companies to choose from, and can lead to employment directly after graduation. This opportunity gives individuals the chance to build a relationship with medical professionals giving them favorability when it comes time to pursue entry-level positions.

Many medical practices must operate during all hours, and facilities and services such as residential care and assisted living, hospital administration, and Urgent Care make completing the requirements for a medical assisting degree easier than ever. Flexibility is just one of the many advantages of medical assistant degree programs, allowing you to balance your time and needs.

 

Hands-On Training

Many medical providers are willing to hire students in training, offering them positions before completing their degree. Many of these opportunities offer round the clock care, making an early morning, or late night shifts available. The training a medical assistant student will receive works double duty as each student receives an education and hands-on work experience all at once. In today’s society time is money, and why not spend your time on the fast track to a successful career? Instead of waiting for graduation to decide on the environment in which you would like to work, why not start while you are still in school? The medical assisting externship offers a chance to get started on your professional goals, allowing students to choose a field to focus on and complete the externship at a practice or facility that specializes in this field.

Finding your niche, or field of focus saves time and allows each student to make strides toward obtaining a specific position, or a job at their desired practice within the medical field. While earning a medical assistant degree at a technical college like Florida Technical College, students are given the opportunity to choose from courses like microbiology, or medical theory to satisfy their elective requirements, and these allow students to study in their area of interest. If you have a desire to work in neurobiology you may want to fulfill an elective requirement with microbiology, however, if your desire is to work in primary care, a medical theory may be the right elective for you. Managing your time while earning a degree in medical assisting is important, and your time can be best used when your focus is clear. If you are returning to school, holding a full-time job, or have the responsibilities and time constraints that come with being a parent, it is important to tailor your schooling to your own time restraints. These electives, along with the option to choose a field of focus for the required externship are just some of the ways medical assistant programs can make balancing your time between career, family, and education possible.

 

Shorter Duration

When managing the dynamics of work, home life, and schooling, it is important to see the light at the end of the tunnel. With a shorter duration, medical assistant degree programs make it easier to plan your life. Medical assistant schools offer associate degrees in a short two-year program that helps you stay focused on the finish line. With an end in sight, managing your time and planning your future becomes much easier. With the option of attending a technical college and enrolling in a medical assisting program, you could be on the path to start working in your chosen career field before most jobs can offer raises and promotions. Not only will you be able to begin working a full-time job sooner, but the time you will save by choosing a medical assistant program or medical assisting school will save you money. When our independent lives begin every minute of our time has value. When your time comes at a price, a school that offers medical assisting classes gives you the best value for your time. In fact, a recent study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute shows that the unemployment and underemployment rates for graduates of a four-year college have nearly doubled in comparison to those in 2007. With the high cost of attending a four-year institution, this statistic makes a trade and technical school a smart investment of your time and money.

 

Career Centered

What better way to balance your time than combining your schooling with your career? Getting a medical assisting degree does just that. Medical Assisting programs keep you career-centered, and no time is wasted on classes that don’t give you the skills you’ll need in the workplace. Optimize your time management skills by bringing your schooling to work, and your work experience to school. If you are lucky enough to have a job that allows you to read a book, or browse the web, use that time to stay focused on your classes and training. Staying career centered at school is important, and the skills you learn through medical assistant classes can be carried into the home and practiced. First aid and wound care are essential in the medical field and are skills that can be utilized anywhere. Save time by remaining career centered in classes, asking instructors questions that pertain to skills you would like to highlight on your resume. Applying for a job with experience already earned is a great way to make sure your time is being used wisely.

 

Stay Focused, Stay Organized, and Keep Your Eye on the Prize

While college can at times seem daunting, there are so many ways in which we can keep ourselves organized and motivated. Take advantage of your student loans and college book stores and buy yourself a nice planner or organizer. Make sure to purchase one that appeals to you aesthetically and functionally. As simple as this may seem, having a hard copy of your schedules and due dates can increase productivity and enhance the process of meeting deadlines and goals.

While considering how to best manage your time while earning your medical assisting degree, consider what mediums you best learn and retain knowledge from. If you enjoy technology and the ease that comes from clicking from screen to screen on your laptop and tablet, invest in the digital copy of your textbook. If you find that you enjoy the feel of a book in your hands, and enjoy writing notes in the margins, don’t sell yourself short, and spend the extra money on a hard copy of the text. Managing your time while earning a degree that will lead to a career as a medical assistant is all about finding what methods of study are most enjoyable for you, and figuring out what works best with your schedule. With the many benefits that come from choosing to enroll in a medical assisting program, managing your time has never been easier.

 


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