Medical Assistants
Perform administrative and certain clinical duties under the direction of a physician. Administrative duties may include scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes. Clinical duties may include taking and recording vital signs and medical histories, preparing patients for examination, drawing blood, and administering medications as directed by physician.
Most important skills
- Social Perceptiveness
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Coordination
- Service Orientation
Key knowledge
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Administrative
- Computers and Electronics
- Education and Training
- Public Safety and Security
- Therapy and Counseling
What the work involves
- Interview patients to obtain medical information and measure their vital signs, weight, and height.
- Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician.
- Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records.
- Prepare and administer medications as directed by a physician.
- Collect blood, tissue, or other laboratory specimens, log the specimens, and prepare them for testing.
- Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients.
- Help physicians examine and treat patients, handing them instruments or materials or performing such tasks as giving injections or removing sutures.
- Authorize drug refills and provide prescription information to pharmacies.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Social, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Post-Secondary Certificate (44.7% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (40.7%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (66%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- No license listed; certification common (national summary): Most states do not require it, but employers may prefer or require certification; some states require graduation from an accredited program, a license or certification. source (checked 2026-10-25)
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections; State licensing authorities (curated, see evidence links) · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 99% of occupations compared | 100% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 73% of occupations compared | 46% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 67% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 94% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 54% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 73% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 93% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 89% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 0%
- Constant contact with others: 100%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 14.42%
- Fairly important: 0.07%
- Important: 2.69%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: 45.9%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0.07%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 19.52%
- Very important: 14.48%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 5.18%
- Very little freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Limited freedom: 17.13%
- Some freedom: 29.52%
- A lot of freedom: 16.95%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 14.48%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 5.68%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 1.3%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 42.24%
- Every day: 36.3%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 20.74%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 1.52%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.29%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 32.96%
- Every day: 14.48%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 1.3%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 27.98%
- Every day: 35.3%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 1.22%
- Fairly serious: 19.57%
- Serious: 5.29%
- Very serious: 25.75%
- Extremely serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 31-9092.00 · SOC 31-9092 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8