Medical Assisting (Academic Minor)
The College of Health Sciences offers an exciting minor in medical assisting. This 24-credit hour minor is available to students from across campus. This program serves students in various disciplines who are interested in learning about and/or working within the healthcare field. The minor is intended to enrich students' current plan of study and provide an opportunity to learn valuable skills applicable in the clinical setting.
Medical assistants are currently in high demand, with a projected 29% job growth over the next 10 years—a much greater rate than the average for all occupations. Medical assistants are widely employed in outpatient clinics, medical offices, hospitals, nursing homes, and other medical establishments. The work that was once performed
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EKG, etc.) is now often performed by medical assistants, who support nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and doctors.Coursework in the medical assisting minor allows students to obtain the necessary knowledge and practical skills needed to sit for the national certification exam in medical assisting. If students do not desire to obtain a certificate, the coursework should be helpful if they choose to pursue other entry-level healthcare positions for which such knowledge and skills may be desired.
Students seeking part-time employment as a medical assistant while completing their undergraduate degree may be interested in this minor, while those students who plan to apply to graduate programs who require patient contact hours prior to acceptance, may also be interested. The knowledge and skills gained through the minor coursework may allow students to be more marketable for entry-level healthcare employment opportunities.
The 24-hour medical assisting minor is very manageable for students, in particular those who are already required to take Anatomy and Physiology I and II with the labs (8 hours); the minor will only require an additional 16 credit hours. For students within the College of Health Sciences who are required to also take HMSE 2000 (2 hours), the minor requires only an additional 14 credit hours.
Students who secure a certificate in medical assisting can be eligible for additional Experiential Learning Credit (ELC), while those who work as a medical assistant may be eligible for additional ELC. Please see this page for additional information.
For more information about the medical assisting minor, please contact Tara Hunter, BSN, MS at tmhill@memphis.edu.