Medical Assisting

The Medical Assisting Program at Peninsula College prepares medical assistants who are competent in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains to enter the profession. Graduates can expect to practice their profession in medical offices, clinics, and other healthcare settings.

Our courses offer students the opportunity to gain professional skills that they can apply both regionally and nationally. Graduates are required to pass a national credentialing exam through a nationally recognized organization in order to obtain their Department of Health issued Medical Assistant - Certified credentials.

How to Apply

If you’re interested in applying to the Medical Assisting program at Peninsula College, please review the information at these links:

• Review the Medical Assisting Handbook
• Learn more about the application process
• View the Medical Assisting Application Timeline

Accreditation

Out-of-State Licensure 

Peninsula College has not made a determination that the Medical Assisting curriculum meets educational requirements for licensure/certification outside of Washington State.  We encourage students who plan to work out of state to check relevant local licensure/certification requirements.

Virtues of Accreditation (from the Medical Assisting Education Review Board [MAERB])

Below you will find a list of accreditation virtues that we first published in the spring of 2022. We solicited responses from our community members. The MAERB continues to welcome your participation in this process, as we realize that you, too, have a list of the virtues of accreditation that you outline when you speak to students, administrators, and employers.

• Accreditation assures professional competence: Graduates from a CAAHEP-accredited program have covered the comprehensive MAERB Core Curriculum and achieved the psychomotor and affective competencies to ensure patient safety.
• Accreditation offers standardization, uniformity, and consistency: All CAAHEP-accredited programs cover the same MAERB Core Curriculum, so employers can be guaranteed that the students know a given body of entry-level knowledge.
• Accreditation requires external verification, review, and validation: In fulfilling the standards, CAAHEP-accredited programs submit their outcomes to MAERB for an annual review and go through a comprehensive site visit review with CAAHEP every ten years.
• Accreditation protects resources: The accreditation Standards and Guidelines specify that the students and faculty have access to specific resources to ensure that the program can comply with the national standards.
• Accreditation enhances the institution’s reputation: Institutions participating in programmatic accreditation distinguish themselves from other institutions.
• Accreditation is public: CAAHEP-accredited programs are listed in a CAAHEP database for student and educator access, and CAAHEP-accredited programs post their status and outcomes.
• Accreditation travels well: Employers across the country recognize the value of accreditation.
• Accreditation advances the profession: The standardization, uniformity, and consistency that accreditation ensures, as well as the review of the Standards and Guidelines and MAERB Core Curriculum, move the profession forward toward greater recognition in the allied health field.
• Accreditation acknowledges accountability: Educational programs graduating prospective healthcare workers must be accountable in ensuring patient safety, and accreditation supports the process of accountability with curriculum that is innovative, relevant, and current.

Learning Outcomes

• Function professionally in a legal and ethical manner as a medical assistant.
• Use medical terminology correctly.
• Effectively communicate with other health-care team members, patients, and physicians.
• Procure and distribute both office supplies and medical supplies.
• Manage documents, both paper and electronic, in a medical office.
• Demonstrate proficiency with basic medical testing procedures.
• Display knowledge and use of techniques for asepsis, workplace safety, and risk management.
• Demonstrate knowledge and competency in electronic medical billing of multiple insurances.
• Follow laws and regulations regarding patient privacy and confidentiality.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ICD-10 coding for medical billing.
• Integrate cognitive objectives and psychomotor and affective domain competencies into daily practice
   

The CAAHEP-accredited Peninsula College Medical Assisting Program has a retention rate of 71.43% (threshold 60%). Other Outcomes for this Program are as follows, data gathered by surveys. 

Link to MAERB website: maerb.org
Link to CAAHEP website: caahep.org

Explore local employment options with some of our Program’s Community Partners

DEGREE

Medical Assisting, Associate in Applied Science (AAS) Degree

CERTIFICATE

Medical Assisting Certificate