Lone Star College–CyFair’s Medical Assistant Program recently received national accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Allied Health Education Programs.

“We are excited because with the CAAHEP accreditation, our graduating students can now sit for the CMA® examination by the American Association of Medical Assistants to become Certified Medical Assistants,” said Gina Scott, founding faculty and program director.  “The purpose of accreditation is to ensure a basic level of educational quality for medical assisting programs established at the postsecondary level in community colleges, universities and vocational schools. When a school seeks accreditation for its medical assisting program, it is volunteering to have the quality of a program compared to national standards established by the profession.”

Part of the vision of Lone Star College–CyFair, which was designed with extensive community input to meet the needs of the Cypress-Fairbanks community, is to provide a successful learning experience that prepares students for the rapidly changing workforce and world. Input from local employers and review of labor market data indicated that Medical Assistants are in great demand in Harris County. Recognizing this, Lone Star College–CyFair worked with an advisory committee of Medical Assistants from the community to develop the program, design the state-of-the-art laboratory, and establish internships.
 
“Medical Assistants are multi-skilled allied health professionals specifically trained to work in ambulatory settings, such as physician offices, clinics and group practices, as well as to perform administrative and clinical procedures and laboratory skills,” said Scott. “Emphasis is placed on a number of  skills such as patient preparation, specimen collection and testing, CPR and first aid, electrocardiograms, medical insurance and coding, medical law and ethics, anatomy and physiology.”

Program completion takes three semesters and includes an externship of six to eight weeks. The inaugural pinning of 11 graduates was held in December 2005. Since then 17 more students have graduated and nearly all of the graduates are employed in this area.

For information on the Lone Star College–CyFair Medical Assistant Program, contact Bryan Hall at 281-290-3275 or Scott at 281-290-5274 or by e-mail at gina.r.scott@lonestar.edu