Dec 17, 2024  
2020-2021 Catalog 
    
2020-2021 Catalog [PAST CATALOG]

Medical Assisting (certificate)


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Special Admission Requirements - Rolling Admission

Official Title of Certificate: Medical Assisting, Certificate

Award: Certificate

Code: CRT.MDA.MDA

Total Credit Hours: 32

Learn more about the Medical Assisting Certificate program

Purpose: Prepares students for employment in physicians’ offices, hospital administrative offices, clinics, medical departments of industry and government and wherever basic office and clinical skills are required. Graduates are eligible to sit for certification examinations given by the American Association of Medical Assistants to become a Certified Medical Assistant, the American Medical Technologists to earn a Registered Medical Assistant Certification, and the National Healthcareer Association exam for Certified Medical Assistants and/or Medical Administrative Assistants. Persons who already are employed in this field may enroll in this program for career development.

Anne Arundel Community College’s Medical Assisting Certificate program is accredited by the  Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) upon the recommendation of the Medical Assisting Education Review Board (MAERB).

Range of Occupations

  • Administrative medical assistant
  • Medical assistant to physician

Additional Program Requirements

All Medical Assisting Program students must receive a minimum grade of C in each medical assisting course. Students who receive a final grade below C in any medical assisting course will be awarded a grade of F in that course.

Special Conditions

Health Manpower Shortage: This program of study may be designated a Health Manpower Shortage Tuition Reduction Program. This means that some residents of Maryland (see the Tuition, Fees and Payments  section of this catalog) enrolled in this program of study by the first day of the term may be eligible for in-county tuition rates for courses required for program completion. It is the student’s responsibility to confirm that this program still maintains a Health Manpower Shortage Program status before enrolling. Please refer to the college’s Accounts Receivable Office to confirm this designation.

 

Anne Arundel Community College and/or the School of Health Sciences reserves the right to revise requirements for admission into the Health Sciences programs, the selection criteria and procedures, and the required courses for programs of study as deemed necessary without prior notification.

 

Entrance/Admission Requirements


Admission Requirements


  1. Attendance at a program information session or call 410-777-7310 for schedule. You may also view the online information session. Detailed information regarding profession, admission and academic requirements will be discussed.
  2. Submit a program application to Florestano 100.
  3. High school graduate or equivalency. Official transcripts required.
  4. 18 years of age or older by first day of class for MDA 140  and MDA 142  .
  5. Eligibility for ENG 101  / ENG 101A .
  6. Take the Arithmetic Placement Test and receive a score of 27 or higher within 7 years of the date the application is submitted or enroll in MAT 005  and complete it with a grade of C or better.
  7. Must have a minimum adjusted grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 at this college.
  8. Foreign educated students: must have their college and high school transcripts evaluated by one of the following credential evaluators: ECE (Educational Credential Evaluators) at www.ece.org, WES (World Education Services) at www.wes.org or SpanTran: The Evaluation Company at www.spantran.com.
  9. Foreign educated students whose native language is not English must successfully pass the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) with a minimum score of 550 (213 is the equivalent computer score and 79 is the equivalent Internet based score) OR must have completed the ENG 101  / ENG 101A  and ENG 102  course sequence with grades of C or better prior to applying to the Medical Assisting program. Anne Arundel Community College’s code for TOEFL is 5019.

Selection Criteria

Students will be admitted to the medical assisting course sequence on a rolling admission basis. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. Students will apply for the Medical Assisting program only after meeting all academic and admission criteria. Once the applicant’s admission criteria have been verified, that student receives conditional acceptance for the next available seat. Applications will be rejected if incomplete. Incomplete applications will be sent back to the student and can be resubmitted once they are complete. Students need only apply once to the program, providing their application is complete. A future seat will be slotted for them once the student meets the criteria for admission.

To be considered for conditional acceptance, applicants must meet the following criteria:

  • Must satisfactorily complete all academic and admission requirements.
  • Final acceptance into the program shall be contingent upon satisfactory completion of a criminal background check, health examination record and submission of current American Heart Association Basic Life Support (BLS) CPR certification card.
  • Information and deadline for completion will be sent in applicant’s conditional acceptance packet. These are not to be completed prior to acceptance notification.

Technical Standards

Students who are conditionally accepted to this program of study will be required to submit a health examination record completed by a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant validating that the student meets the technical standard of good physical and mental health as established by the School of Health Sciences and verifying that the student is free of communicable diseases as evidenced by required immunizations/titers.

CPR

Students must successfully complete the American Heart Association Basic Life Support (BLS) CPR course by designated deadline.

Criminal Background Check and Drug Screening

This program requires the satisfactory completion of a criminal background check and possible drug screening. For complete details, see the Health Sciences  section of this catalog.

Certificate Graduation Requirements


See Academic Regulations on Graduation Requirements .

Certificate Requirements: 32 credits


Total credit hours: 15


Total credit hours: 13


Summer Term


  • 1 credit hour
  • 3 credit hours
  • Practicum (MDA 275 ) internship requires 160 hours of unpaid supervised work experience in a physician’s office or wherever medical office administration with clinical skills is required. Eligibility: Completion of all courses required for the MDA certificate with a minimum of 2.0 GPA; meeting the technical standards of the Medical Assisting department.

Total credit hours: 4


Program Outcomes


Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

  1. Describe structural organization of the human body across the life span
  2. Solve mathematical computations related to patient care and medication administration
  3. Define the principles of Infection Control practiced within the ambulatory patient care setting
  4. Identify the specific dietary needs related to maintaining health and disease prevention
  5. Identify styles and types of effective communication techniques utilized in the healthcare setting
  6. Explain the administrative functions performed in a health care setting
  7. Describe basic practice finances performed by the medical assistant in the health care setting
  8. Apply third party reimbursement methods related to health care operations 
  9. Describe how to use the most current procedural and diagnostic coding
  10. Describe the legal implications related to the medical assistant scope of practice 
  11. Describe the ethical considerations of the medical assisting profession 
  12. Apply the principles of protective practices in the health care setting

Career and Educational Advancement Resources


   

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