- Don’t be afraid to go after what you want.
- You can learn a lot from a person’s shoes.
- You can’t be good at EVERYTHING. Just accept that.
- Work hard.
- Give a damn.
- Learn from your past, and move on.
- Strive to be the best person you can be, but stay true to who you are.
Medical Assistants Need to Be Meticulous
There are some jobs where you can be a bit less than accurate and no one is overly concerned about it. Think of the TV weather forecaster who calls for sun on the day of your outdoor party only to have it poor on your pic-nic. But there are some other jobs where making even a minor error can have catastrophic consequences. Think of the airline pilot who makes a navigation calculation that takes his plane and all its passengers into a hillside instead of their planned destination (or worse, runs over Santa Claus on Christmas Eve). For one comical example, read about the hackers who took down a NASA website when they were trying to torpedo an NSA website.
Well, being a certified nursing assistant is one of those jobs that falls into the latter category. This is why taking certified medical assistant training with the Allen School is critical to becoming a thorough and dependable professional. For giggles, read here about some common mistakes made by people in nursing and certified nursing assistant careers. Then make sure you study hard and pay close attention once you’re on the job!
Article updated December 12, 2023 In Memoriam for 9/11 – Nurse Assistants Never Forget
Today marks twelve years since the horrific attacks on America in New York, Washington DC and in Shanksville PA. The tragic loss of so many first responders added to the collective woe felt by Americans and supporters of freedom worldwide that fateful day. Those who worked in the medical field in the aftermath of the attacks bore witness to the ailments, injuries and suffering of those who toiled at ground zero to search through the rubble, clean away the debris and begin the long process of rebuilding both our city and our collective sense of safety. As certified nurse assistants and medical assistants in 2011 and 2012 will attest, New Yorkers and Americans at large are a tough, resilient and proud people who will never be cowed by acts of hate and terror. As the country continues to heal, Allen School is proud to continue producing caring, compassionate, dedicated medical industry professionals. Let us never forget! Getting Online Training for Medical Billing? Don’t Forget to Go Outside!
Online study to earn a medical billing & coding certification is truly a marvel of technology. It’s so convenient and easy to study without having to leave the confines of your comfortable home. Just settle in to your comfy chair, fire up the ‘ole laptop and get to work earning your certification in medical billing; a career field expected to continue to grow.
But make sure you remember to get out of the chair, and more importantly, out of the house at very regular intervals. In the video below, science explains why getting regular dosages of sunlight and being cognizant of the time you spend seated each day has significant ramifications for your physical health. The medical billing and coding career is an office gig where you’ll likely be seated, indoors five days a week. So it is critical to understand why standing and sunlight are important to your health. Knowing the facts contained in this video should prompt you to build some “outside time” into your daily routine. Especially if you live in an urban area.
Find Gold of Your Own via Medical Billing Programs Online
Today’s news contained a really nifty story of a treasure hunting Florida family who, after many years of fruitless pursuit, finally found nearly $300,000 worth of gold coins and chains, diving in a shipwreck off the coast near their home. Imagine the thrill of finally uncovering this prize after many years of frustrating efforts yielding nothing.
You could follow this family’s example and dedicate decades to the pursuit of sunken treasure and never find a single doubloon. Or, you might opt for a more dependable, proven means for improving your fortune and enroll in medical billing and coding school. Now, the Allen School cannot guarantee anyone a $300,000 payday for a single day’s work. But when you figure in the 20 years this family has searched for treasure, this payday works out to about $15,000 per year – not exactly a great salary. On the other hand, becoming a medical billing specialist will earn a salary significantly higher than $15k/year and has enormous potential for growth.
While it may not be as glamorous as “treasure hunter”, medical billing and coding training provides a solid, stable and profitable career you can treasure for a lifetime. Using LinkedIn to Land Your Dream Medical Assistant Job
OK, so you can also use it to land your dream nurse assistant job, medical billing and coding specialist job, even your dream chocolate cream pie taster job. It’s just that good a tool for prospecting for employment. I know this to be true because I have landed more than one good job using it and I have also grown my professional network far beyond what I would have been able to without it.
Not familiar with LinkedIn? LinkedIn is like Facebook for business people. It is in fact the largest social network for business in the world with nearly a quarter BILLION users worldwide. There, users can connect with others in their industry, find out about companies and the people who work for them. Companies can post job openings and users can build detailed online profiles which are searchable and highly visible to hiring managers. Think “all the connectivity of social media but focused on business”. Best of all, its FREE. Of course you can buy extra service and features with a paid subscription but its entirely not necessary.
The Business2Community blog has a good primer out on how you can leverage LinkedIn to land your dream job offer. If you’re done with your medical assistant training and looking for your first job, you should check it out! Online Medical Billing Classes Require Functional Computers
As a current or prospective student taking medical billing classes online, one thing you know for sure is that you’ll need to have a computer that works well enough to ensure you can effectively study. And although you’re in the medical field, you may not know a lot about how to keep your computer healthy. Now, everyone knows about the threat of computer “viruses” and most understand that there are programs out there to both protect against such infections and to help cure your machine if you’ve already been infected.
But beyond that, most are not well-versed on the differences between viruses, malware, adware and the other types of malicious code that can easily hinder your ability to study medical billing and coding online. Thankfully, the geek squad over at Lifehacker.com has put together this excellent piece explaining the different types of threats out there and how to deal with each of them. Have a look at their advice and then take the actions recommended to keep your computer humming nicely along. Certified Nurse Assistants, Be Prepared for the Unexpected
Even if you never find yourself working as a certified nurse assistant in an emergency room, you’re bound to bear witness to some very odd medical conditions during the course of your career. You’ll surely run across a few stories that fall well outside the boundaries of what is covered in certified nurse assistant training courses.
For example, you could have been the CNA in the doctor’s office where this fellow was rushed to after sticking his head into the beam of an active particle accelerator.
You could have been the CNA in the emergency room when a 28-year old male was brought after an attempted suicide. The man had swallowed several nitroglycerin pills and a fifth of vodka. When asked about the bruises about his head and chest he said that they were from him ramming himself into the wall in an attempt to make the nitroglycerin explode.
Happy Friday Allen School Blog readers! Medical Assistants Are Salesmen (Or They Should Be)
Going to medical assistant school prepares one for a career in the healthcare field. Studying to become a medical assistant at the Allen School offers even greater preparation than other medical assistant schools. But, what medical assistant trainees should also be studying is sales. Yes, you read that right, I said “sales”. If you’re to become a successful medical assistant, you need to first become an exceptional salesman or saleswoman. “Why” you ask? Because everything you’ll do in your new career is going to depend on the extent to which you can sell things.
Consider that before you even begin at a new position, you’ll have to sell a hiring manager somewhere that you’re prepared, qualified and temperamentally suited to the position they’re seeking to fill. This requires poise, determination and persuasion (just what you’d expect from a salesperson). Once you’ve landed a job, you’re going to need to convince patients that you’re giving them advice they can trust. You’re also going to need to sell yourself and your accomplishments when you go in search of advancement or pay raises from your employer. All these things require you to assume the posture and mindset of a salesmen. If any of this sounds off-putting, don’t fret! The nice folks over at US News & World Report have compiled a list of the 5 sales skills everyone needs. Even medical assistants. Go ahead and read their piece here and take the ideas to heart as you embark on your career. Medical Assistant, Certified Nurse Assistant jobs Pay Better
Yahoo! Finance has an article up today entitled, “First Person: Making it in a Family of ‘Hamburger Flippers”. In it, the author gives a first person account of how difficult it is to make a living today working at low-paying and/or part time jobs. Sadly, the US economy today is producing high effort/low wage jobs at a rate much higher than it should be. Reading this article should give you a solid insight into how difficult it can be to simply get by working as a fast food cook or a retail cashier.
The website www.Salary.com reports the average salary for a fast food cook in NYC at $21,698 a year. For a retail cashier in NYC the pay is not much better at $22,896 a year. If you’re currently working in one of these fields, you already know how hard it is to live on that pay. If you’re just trying to decide what to do for career training, you may want to consider that, according to Salary.com, Certified Nurse Assistants in NYC earn an average of $35,250. The median pay in NYC for a medical assistant is reported to be $36,896. Of course median salaries will vary by location, but the prospect for advancement in the field of medicine is far greater than in fast food or retail. Moreover, medicine is one of the few industries that continues to exhibit robust growth in employment. Just putting it out there.