Medical Office Assistant
- Delivery Method: In-Class
- Duration: 32 weeks, including a 4-week practicum
- Starts: Three times per year (February, June and October)
- Credential: Diploma
- Wages: Up to $19.00/hour
If you’re looking for a rewarding career in healthcare administration, you’ll love being a Medical Office Assistant. Medical Office Assistants assist in preparing patients for physicians, surgeons and practitioners, as well as performing general office and medical office duties.
Medical Office Assistants perform a variety of administrative and clinical tasks to keep the offices of physicians and other healthcare practitioners running smoothly. Typical job duties include measuring vital signs, preparing patients for physical exams, assisting pediatricians with children, and preparing surgical trays, performing billing and bookkeeping, working with patient charts and data, and arranging for hospital admission and laboratory services.
Admission Requirements
- Completion of Grade 12 or 19 years of age or older
- Passing Stenberg College entrance examination
- Passing Stenberg College entrance interview
- Successful completion of a short written essay
- Passing Verbal Test of English if English is a Second Language
- Minimum typing speed of 20 wpm
- Completion of Criminal Record Consent Form under the Criminal Record Review Act
Prior to Program Admission, Program Advisors will outline practice education requirements for the program. Upon enrollment, students will be informed of next steps and timelines. Non-compliance could result in program dismissal. Requirements for practice education placements include:
- Acceptable Criminal Record Search under the Criminal Record Review Act
- Proof of Immunity Status as required by industry
- Acceptable Medical Examination Form completed by a physician
NB: Additional criteria may be required to fulfill industry guidelines; students will be informed in advance of any requirements that need to be fulfilled for placements.
Financing Your Education
You could be eligible for Employment Insurance funding for education, government student loans, as well as other financing options; Stenberg’s Financial Aid Officer would be happy to provide further assistance.
Student Stories
Read stories from our students and grads about their experience with the Medical Office Assistant program at Stenberg.
Emily Skawski
At twenty-one, Emily Skawski decided it was time for a career change. The former electrician found herself sitting across from a program advisor at Stenberg College and on her way to becoming a Hospital Support Specialist. Now twenty-three, Emily is at the start of a bright and promising second career.
Emily’s interest in the health care field came from, in part, her father suffering a sudden heart attack scare. While her father was in the hospital recovering, she saw the nurses, doctors, and team helping him. She thought to herself, “If there is anything I can do, I should do it. That way if he became immobilized or something happened at home, I would be able to take care of him.” That’s when she started looking at academic programs.
Initially, Emily had considered becoming a paramedic or a nurse. However, she didn’t want to sign up for lengthy program thinking, “I don’t know if I have that much time.” Her friend Kayla, a graduate of Stenberg College, suggested another path to Emily, such as taking health care registration courses, or the Hospital Support Specialist program. She explained that although this program was shorter, Emily would still be learning “everything from the sides of all the medical terminology. You learn parts of the body. You learn everything about it.”
Emily was excited by the idea of working in health care. She thought to herself, “This is more than just first aid, this is people care. This is patient care. This is environment. This is community. This is an expanding horizon for me.”
Emily thrived at Stenberg, and did so during her practicum placements as well. Emily was hired to work in the Health Records Department as well as at registration, mainly in Emergency. She goes home at the end of every day with a smile on her face, loving her job so much that it doesn’t even feel like she is working.
More Like This
Are you looking for a rewarding career in hospital administration? As a Hospital Support Specialist, you will be trained to provide valuable clerical, secretarial and administrative support in public and private health care settings.
Are you organized, detail-oriented and professional? If this sounds like you, consider a career as a Nursing Unit Clerk. Nursing Unit Clerks act as the heart of a health care unit by maintaining the pulse.