Healthcare Support · Holland code CSR

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.

Also called: Certified Medical Assistant (CMA), Chiropractor Assistant, Doctor's Assistant, Registered Medical Assistant (RMA), Clinical Medical Assistant, Health Assistant, Ophthalmic Assistant, Ophthalmological Assistant.

O*NET 31-9092.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $45,690; Middle half earn $38,470 to $49,180. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Post-Secondary Certificate; 45% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +12% · Much faster than average; 811,000 jobs in 2024, projected 912,200. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Medical assistants".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Interview patients to obtain medical information and measure their vital signs, weight, and height.
Clean and sterilize instruments and dispose of contaminated supplies.
Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records.
Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients.
Prepare treatment rooms for patient examinations, keeping the rooms neat and clean.
Collect blood, tissue, or other laboratory specimens, log the specimens, and prepare them for testing.
Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician.
Help physicians examine and treat patients, handing them instruments or materials or performing such tasks as giving injections or removing sutures.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening3.9 / 5
Speaking3.9 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.8 / 5
Critical Thinking3.6 / 5
Monitoring3.5 / 5
Writing3.4 / 5

Knowledge areas

English Language4.8 / 5
Customer and Personal Service4.5 / 5
Medicine and Dentistry4.3 / 5
Administrative4.1 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.8 / 5
Education and Training3.5 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic51
Investigative47
Artistic0
Social63
Enterprising16
Conventional79

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

maternity support worker · DE Assistent in der Geburtshilfe/Assistentin in der Geburtshilfe · FR assistant en maternité/assistante en maternité
medical records clerk · DE Krankheitsregister-Dokumentar/Krankheitsregister-Dokumentarin · FR agent du service des dossiers médicaux/agente du service des dossiers médicaux
doctors' surgery assistant · DE Medizinischer Fachangestellter/Medizinische Fachangestellte · FR assistant en cabinet médical/assistante en cabinet médical
anaesthetic technician · DE Anästhesietechnischer Assistent/Anästhesietechnische Assistentin · FR infirmier anesthésiste/infirmière anesthésiste
chiropractic assistant · DE chiropraktischer Assistent/chiropraktische Assistentin · FR assistant chiropracteur/assistante chiropracteur
respiratory therapy technician · DE Atemtherapietechniker/Atemtherapietechnikerin · FR technicien intervention matériel assistance respiratoire/technicienne intervention matériel assistance respiratoire

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Health care practice managers (1231)27,200 employed
Nursing auxiliaries and assistants (6131)337,700 employed
Medical secretaries (4211)62,500 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.15. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (31-9092).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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