How to Write a Skills Section for Your Medical Assistant Resume

It is important to include relevant skills on your resume that showcase your medical assisting abilities. Medical assistants handle a variety of tasks and responsibilities that require many technical skills. If you are preparing your resume, you may consider what skills you should add to your resume to increase your chances of being called in for an interview. In this article, you can learn how to list medical assistant skills on your resume and review the best skills to list on your medical assistant resume.

How to list medical assistant skills on your resume 

Here are some steps you can follow when listing medical skills on your resume:

1. First, review related job descriptions

Before you consider adding skills relevant to your medical assistant job, try examining the job descriptions for the positions you are interested in. Take note of the required skills most jobs prefer and think about which of the skills you possess. 

2. Second, make a list of your strongest skills

Once you are aware of the skills most jobs are looking for, you can then list some of your strongest skills and see how they compare to the skills required by employers. See which skills are related and which ones are not. If the skills you list aren’t relevant to the jobs you are interested in, you may want to consider leaving them off of your resume. 

3. Third, pick five to seven skills

Begin eliminating skills that aren’t essential to the job you are interested in and select the most important skills that are relevant to your job title. These can be a combination of soft and hard skills. It is important to make sure your skills list isn’t extensive to keep your resume from looking cluttered. 

4. Fourth, organize your bullet points

Your skills section should be organized in neat bullet points in a logical order that is easy to comprehend and visually appealing. 

5. Fifth, use medical terminology

Include medical terminology for skills that are directly related to your technical duties. Most hiring managers and recruiters that work in the healthcare industry will have an accurate knowledge of the medical terminology on your resume. 

Best medical assistant skills to add to a resume

Here are some of the best skills to add to a medical assistant resume: 

Basic office skills

Basic office skills are essential for medical assistants to complete their assigned tasks that mostly involve basic computer systems. As a medical assistant, you may handle tasks such as answering phones, bookkeeping and customer service. You may also work with spreadsheets, email, word processors and electronic calendars. If you have experience with particular medical records software, you should list those on your resume. 

Medical administrative skills

These skills include taking inventory of medical supplies, ordering new medical supplies or selecting vendors or suppliers by price and efficiency. Other duties you are required to perform that are administrative are scheduling patient appointments, collaborating with laboratory services, arranging hospital admissions and updating patient records and filing medical histories. These tasks are an important part of a medical assistant’s job duties and good candidates should have advanced knowledge of medical administration. 

Medical skills

Although medical assistants are not doctors, they should be well-equipped to handle medical tasks that doctors and nurses require them to perform. This may include administering medications, applying wound dressings, giving injections, performing EKGs, drawing blood and conveying important medical information as necessary. 

You also need to know the safety guidelines and regulations involved in sanitizing and setting up medical instruments, preparing operating rooms or treatment rooms and maintaining medical equipment. 

Preparing patients

Medical assistants are responsible for preparing patients for treatment and surgery. You should provide them with accurate information about what will take place and about what they can and cannot do before the treatment or operation. 

Medical coding

You may be responsible for transcribing diagnoses and procedure codes from physician notes, medical record documentation, laboratory results, etc. 

Confidentiality

As a medical assistant, you are also responsible for upholding the confidentiality of the patients you are helping. This means you must be in accordance with all health privacy laws. 

Phlebotomy

Medical assistants often draw blood for physicians or nurses when needed. It is important that you have efficient phlebotomy skills to ensure patient safety and comfort. 

Patient interaction

You will often be required to work directly with patients. Due to this, you will need to have a set of skills related to customer service and a good bedside manner. You will need to explain information about procedures and provide medical instructions in a way that is easy for patients to understand. 

It is also essential that you remain calm and supportive of patients who are anxious or stressed about medical treatment. 

Taking vital signs

Taking patient vital signs is an essential part of a medical assistant’s position. The vital signs you will take include blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and respiration rate. You should know how to accurately read and record the figures provided after you take the vital signs. 

Other personal qualities

When you write your resume, you may also consider including some of your other personal qualities or skills that allow you to perform your job duties efficiently. For example, to be a medical assistant you need to have great attention to detail, empathy, time management and organizational skills. 

Inventory management

As a medical assistant, you will likely be in charge of ordering and re-ordering office supplies and other medical supplies. You will need to keep accurate records of how fast your department goes through supplies and which vendors provide the most cost-efficient options for supplies.