Medical Assisting Training Program

Program Overview

The goal of Metrohealth’s Medical Assisting Training program is to prepare medical assistants who are competent in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains to enter the profession. The program consists of 40 weeks of didactic (lecture)/Lab work or 1261.5 clock hours, followed by a minimum of a 160-hour Practicum: a hands-on, real life clinical experience.

The goal is retaining our medical assisting interns and providing a seamless transition into the workforce. At the start of the program, in 2023, MetroHealth’s Medical Assisting Training Program has an overall retention rate of 75.86% based on the most recent Annual Report Form submitted to the Medical Assisting Education Review Board (MAERB) and the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP).  All medical assisting interns are required to complete a practicum to support the content learned within the curriculum. No medical assisting intern will be guaranteed employment after the completion of the program.

Topics to be studied in the curriculum include medical terminology, health care law and ethics, allied health math, pharmacology, anatomy and physiology, medical office procedures, medical billing and coding, clinical procedures, and laboratory procedures.

How to Apply

Please review the Program Disclosure Booklet prior to submitting your application.

• MATP Disclosure Booklet 2024

Step 1 - Apply on our Careers site 

Visit careers.metrohealth.org and submit a formal application.

Step 2 - Write a 500-word essay

Your question to answer is “What does being accepted into the medical assisting training program mean to you?“

Step 3 - Submit essay online

Send in essay to [email protected] within 48 hours of submitting formal application.

Application Timeline

• Applications for Cohort 1-5 are now closed
• Applications for Cohort 6 will open on May 1st (Classes start September 2025)
• Deadline to submit application for Cohort 6 is June 15th

Medical Assisting Training Program Curriculum

Term 1

MATP 100 Medical Terminology

MATP 105 Introduction to Healthcare: Law & Ethics

MATH 110 Basic Allied Health Math

Term 2

MATP 120 A & P I

MATP 125 Medical Assisting I: Clinical Procedures

MATP 130 Medical Office Procedures

MATP 135 Pharmacology I

Term 3

MATP 220 A & P II

MATP 225 Medical Assisting II: Medical Laboratory

MATP 230 Healthcare Reimbursement: Billing & Coding

MATP 235 Pharmacology II

Term 4

MATP 250 Medical Assisting Practicum

10 months | 1261.5 hours

The Medical Assisting Training Program Outcomes

At the completion of this program, students will:

• To prepare medical assistants who are competent in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills) & affective (behavior) learning domains to enter the profession.
• Demonstrate and practice professional, ethical, and legal behaviors consistent within the healthcare profession.
• Communicate and collaborate professionally and effectively with patients, healthcare team members, and third-party providers in a culturally diverse community.
• Demonstrate quality assurance practices within the healthcare setting.
• Demonstrate universal and safety precautions in daily practice.

Academic Progression

• Interns must maintain a grade of 70% in the program. Falling below 70% is cause for disciplinary action.
• Final grades below 70% will result in dismissal from the program and MetroHealth.
• This program is a competency-based program. All interns will complete cognitive (C) knowledge, psychomotor (P) skills, and affective (A) behaviors.
• All interns need to achieve a 70% on all cognitive objective assessments to be successful in the courses assigned.
• All psychomotor and affective (PSA) skills need to be achieved at 100% for the intern to be successful in the course.
• Additionally, interns must successfully complete each term to progress to the next.

Occupational Risk

Medical Assisting is a profession with many rewards, as practitioners can perform both administrative and clinical services, filling several roles in a variety of healthcare environments. The Bureau of Labor Statistics clearly outlines that it is a growth field, with an anticipated 16% growth from 2020 to 2030.

Medical Assistants work directly with providers and patients, with the goal of providing healthcare and ensuring patient safety. It is a position with a great deal of responsibility.

As with any healthcare position, there are certain occupational risks that come into play with being a medical assistant, and those hazards include the following:

• Exposure to communicable diseases
• Sharps injuries
• Exposure to Bloodborne pathogens and biological hazards
• Exposure to chemicals
• Exposure to cleaning products
• Proper body mechanics related to lifting, sitting, and repetitive tasks
• Latex allergies
• Stress

At the same time, there are protections set up with the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), and those protections are particularly important within a healthcare environment. OSHA has a series of standards that protect the safety of healthcare workers and patients. Accredited medical assisting programs are required to teach students about the hazards that they face on the job and the protocols that can be put into place to ensure a workplace culture that prioritizes safety.

The medical assisting training program at MetroHealth is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (www.caahep.org), on recommendation of the Medical Assisting Education Review Board (MAERB). Contact information: Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Educational Programs, 9355 113th St N, #7709 Seminole, FL 33775 727-210-2350 www.caahep.org

Medical Assisting Training Academic Team

Lynnae Lockett MSN, RN, NEA-BC, RMA, CMRS
Director, Medical Assisting Training Program
[email protected]