As you scroll down your screen, you’ll learn more about dermatology medical assistants.
These include responsibilities, educational requirements, work settings, and how much they receive as a salary. Until then, let’s have a brief introduction to these experts.
Dermatologist Medical Assistant
Do you want to care for people with acne or skin cancer?
Then, a career in dermatology or medical assisting can be an excellent way to make your dreams come true. You’ll work with a certified dermatologist to treat patients with such conditions in a health-related facility.
Who is a Dermatology Medical Assistant?
Anyone holding this title is a specialist in the field of dermatology. They are often the first people you’ll meet when visiting a dermatologist’s office.
As stated earlier, their primary role is to assist certified dermatologists in diagnosing and treating clients battling acne and skin cancer.
With that in mind, these practitioners aren’t the same as medical assistants. A dermatologist assistant works almost at the doctor’s level of care. However, clinical assistants are there to deal with clinical and admin tasks.
While true, the roles of experts in this field may vary in clinical organizations and clinics. But their popularity and prominence must be recognized.
Dermatology Medical Assistant Duties
Practitioners in this field handle several tasks in admin and clinics. These tasks often vary depending on the employer and work environment.
However, you may perform some clinical tasks, such as sanitizing and preparing exam rooms for clients, assisting dermatologists with surgical procedures, administering injections, and assisting dermatologists with cosmetic procedures.
Admin duties you’ll handle include scheduling and confirming client appointments, creating and updating medical records, making and receiving phone calls, and managing client billing issues.
Others include coding and preparing insurance forms, obtaining patient consent forms, reviewing medical histories, and more.
How to Become a Dermatology Medical Assistant
When trying to become an expert in this field, you must know what type of education you need.
This will help you decide which academic route will take you to the next level. That said, there are no legal restrictions or set education and training requirements for dermatology medical assistants.
However, students with a high school diploma or GED can enroll in an MA training program to get started. FFC’s medical assistant tech training program can be an excellent option.
The studies will give you the knowledge, abilities, and hands-on experience to kickstart your career.
Dermatology medical assistants who complete such training are often the most qualified for entry-level jobs. The training program includes an externship that will place you with a local clinical expert.
This will allow you to put your theoretical knowledge into a real-world environment.
Besides a high school diploma, you can also seek a certificate or degree in dermatology or medical assisting. Such education will give you extensive training and experience to execute your duties excellently.
Following your graduation, you can qualify for top positions in the industry.
How Long Does It Take to Become a Dermatologist Medical Assistant?
Having learned about the academic essentials to join this profession, you must know about its time commitment. It will help you make the right choice of study route.
The exact time to finish an MA assistant study in dermatology depends on several factors. These include your choice of institution, type of education, and entry route.
While valid, most diploma and certificate courses can be finished in 9–12 months. For those who desire an associate degree, it will take roughly two years to wrap up.
Students often prefer this educational path because it provides industry knowledge, skills, and hands-on training. Additionally, most employers prioritize candidates with such qualifications.
During your studies, you’ll cover courses in physiology, psychology, basic anatomy, and medical terminology. Skin disorders, dermatology diseases, and dermatology are also included in the curriculum.
Certification for Dermatology Medical Assistants
Acquiring attestation of industry competence is optional when becoming a specialist in the field. However, it’s advantageous if you have one.
The credential will testify to your skills at nationally accepted standards. Moreover, it will distinguish you from other job seekers in a tight labor market.
The recommended certification for practitioners in this field is SCMA-D. It’s open to 13 therapeutic specialties, including dermatology.
You can also obtain other attestations of competence, such as CMA, RMA, NCMA, CCMA, and NRCMA.
These credentials are provided by some nationally recognized agencies, which include AAMA, AMT, NCCT, NHA, and NAHP.
Before getting either of these documents, specific conditions must be satisfied. These include having the minimum academic certificate, obtaining hands-on experience, and passing the license exams.
Certification Renewal
Having obtained any of the credentials above, you’ll need to renew them after a specific period.
This enables you to stay updated with the ongoing changes in the clinical sector. The renewal timeline for dermatology medical assistant certification varies according to their classes.
For instance, RMA attestation of competence must be renewed every three years to comply with the AMT guidelines.
AAMA’s CMA certification can last up to five years before being updated. As for SCMA-DTM, you’ll need to renew it every year. Lastly, the CDT certificate must be updated every two years.
With that in mind, candidates must meet specific criteria when updating their credentials.
These include paying a nominal fee of $39, writing recertification exams, and finishing some hours of continuous education under a licensed dermatologist’s supervision.
Work Settings
Experts in this field are typically trained to work in a dermatology clinic or hospital, taking orders from a dermatologist.
However, they might equally work in cosmetic offices, research institutions, or long-term care centers. While working in these facilities, they’ll focus on various skin concerns.
This will allow you to meet clients of different ages and backgrounds.
Dermatology Medical Assistant Salary
You must know the average salary of these experts. That way, you can tell whether this career path is lucrative. That said, practitioners in this field receive an average salary of $37,190 annually.
But this amount can change due to some critical variables. They include your geographical location, level of education, years of experience, certification, and choice of specialty area.
You’ll enjoy the field of dermatology medical assistant if you plan on making a career in the clinical industry. Based on reports, the occupation is projected to grow by 16% over the next decade.
This means you’ll not have to worry about job security. If this has intrigued you, the details above will assist you in starting a fulfilling career in this field.