Super Bowl Study Break for Medical Office Assistant Trainees

Yes, the cell phone has become an invaluable tool for work as much as for play.  Certified medical assistants are as prone as any other career worker to rely on their cell phones for business apps, productivity apps, and other functionalities offered by today’s powerful, hand-held computers.  So perhaps none of us should be surprised to learn that the evil geniuses of the nerd community have begun producing viruses that infect cell phone operating systems.  Just like the viruses that damage our desktop computers and destroy productivity, these new cell phone viruses can render your cell phone nearly inoperable.  But, there are steps you can take to protect your devices from the malicious code of evil hackers. Yahoo! News’s Colm Byrne writes a great piece on how to stop the mobile virus in its tracks.  Medical assistants ought to read up on how to treat the personal assistants in their pockets or pocketbooks.  An ounce of prevention, AMIRITE? Article updated December 12, 2023

Sleep – water – exercise – garlic – zinc – sex – laughter – massage: what do all these items have in common?  They are all things you should be having plenty of if you want to avoid getting the flu this year.  2013 is shaping up to be an epidemic year for the flu with millions already infected and many more to contract the illness before the season is through. If you’re studying to become a medical office assistant, you’ll need to know how to keep yourself healthy, even during peak flu season when you’ll be coming into regular daily contact with sick people.  This awesome article and slide show courtesy Huffington Post’s Sarah Klein, explains how each of these easy-to-manage steps can really help you ward off the flu and other illnesses frequently encountered by medical office assistants, medical billing and coding professionals and all workers in the medical office.  Read up on how to protect yourself!

To bring you breaking developments in the “Oh my word, that’s just too cute for words” department.  Yes, it’s Monday and we should be focused as we typically are, on delivering material relevant to those in pursuit (or considering pursuing) careers as a medical office assistant or medical billing and coding specialists.  But we just saw this story about the debut of the recently born baby panda bear at the San Diego zoo.  And we had to take a moment to spend gawking over the new baby named “Xiao Liwu” (Shyyow Lee Woo).  As a medical office assistant, you may be called upon to help treat patients like this blogger who are suffering from a bad case of the mushies, oohing and ahhing over this cute little critter.  Consider it a treatment for a bad case of “the Mondays” from your friendly neighborhood blogger.  Now, back to your regularly scheduled blog on topics relevant to those studying medical billing and coding or medical office assistant training.

US News and World Report publishes an annual list of the 100 best jobs of the year.  This is what they have to say about their list, ” U.S. News 100 Best Jobs of 2013 are the occupations that offer a mosaic of employment opportunity, good salary, manageable work-life balance, and job security. Some careers offer just the right mix of these components—for instance, our top tier is filled with tech and healthcare jobs.” It would seem that Allen School is the place to be if you’re interested in building a career in one of the list’s “best jobs”.  This is because every career opportunity you can train for at Allen School – Certified Nurses Assistant training, medical office assistant training and medical billing and coding training – are represented on this year’s list.  Allen School students are wise for seeking opportunities in some of the best positions for good salaries, work-life balance and job security.  See the whole list here.

Everyone in this blogger’s house, including yours truly, has been suffering with the Flu for the last 10 days.  Luckily, I got a Flu shot earlier in the year so my sickness was mild compared to my wife and son’s.  Authorities are saying this year is shaping up to be a bad year for Flu.  Articles here and here show the details of the emerging epidemic.  All this talk about overrun hospitals and doctors’ offices got me to thinking, “how do the office workers in my doctor’s office (and those in all other doctor’s offices) work in such a contaminated environment and manage to avoid being sick all year long? It seems that for medical office assistants, medical billing and coding professionals and certified nursing assistants (CNA), there are some best practices to follow that can help cut down on exposure and infection by communicable diseases.  Heathworkerscollective.com has an informative article entitled, “6 Tips for Avoiding Illness When You Work in a Medical Office” and it has some very excellent, common sense suggestions for medical office workers to help them avoid getting ill from patient contact.  So if you’ve recently completed your studies at Allen School and have earned your certification as a medical billing and coding specialist, a medical office assistant or a CNA, you should read this piece and take the advice to heart if you want to stay healthy throughout this Flu season.

So the holiday decorations are put away, the Champagne bottles and party hats all sit, empty, next to an overflowing recycling bin, Times Square has been swept clean of confetti; the New Year has fully arrived.  In the cold and sober light of the first serious days of 2013, many of us turn to making assessments of ways we can improve ourselves with a fresh, new year stretched out before us with all its promise still intact.  For many (including your humble narrator) this involves redoubling efforts to lose weight and be more active.  For many, this self inventory may lead to a commitment to spend more time involved in serving others via church organizations or other charity organizations.  For those of you here reading a blog dedicated to topics relevant to medical office, medical billing and coding and certified nursing assistant careers, the New Years resolution likely has something to do with taking the actions necessary to improve your income, and thus your overall standard of living.  Earning a CNA certification from the Allen School is just the kind of resolution that leads to improved earning capacity and broader job opportunity.  Certified Nursing Assistants are in high demand according to many government reports about where employment will be most robust in the near- and long- term.  So if your resolution is to get training and apply what you learn to the pursuit of greater health and wealth in 2013, then you’re at the right place.  Allen School CNA training programs can certainly help you follow through on this New Year’s resolution.