Medical assistants (MAs) are in charge of plenty of tasks in healthcare, including both hospital and administrative tasks.
They provide care to patients, take vital sights, fill in the administration paper, take care of mild cuts, and apply orthopedic tools.
The administrative part of their work is to take care of the billing, schedule appointments, take care of the supplies, answer the phone, etc.
On the other hand, phlebotomists collect blood samples from the patients.
Their tasks are venipuncture or finger pricks.
When they need to take the blood sample from an infant, phlebotomists work with heel sticks.
The common work settings for phlebotomists are hospitals and clinics.
Before they take the blood sample, the phlebotomist needs to know the correct method of the collection which is okay for the type of testing.
They also take care of the samples and keep them intact before processing.
In general, medical assistants and phlebotomists are different in job roles and responsibilities.
However, a phlebotomist can become a medical assistant and vice versa.
But to change their career, they need to finish the appropriate training.
Usually, training for medical assistants is longer than training for phlebotomy.
If you are considering any of these careers, make sure to get a certificate, as it will make you more desirable to the employee.
Having additional skills is also a great plus.
Also, when a member of the healthcare team can perform all tasks without having to send a patient on another location, it can result in better patient experience.