Medical Assistants work in physicians’ offices or ambulatory clinics. They are multiskilled health professionals specifically educated to work in those offices. They are trained to perform administrative (front office) and clinical (back office) procedures.
Your training will prepare competent entry-level medical assistants in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and effective (behavior) learning domains.
General Knowledge
General knowledge that will be learned in the beginning of the training to help you be successful in your more advanced classes may include:
- Medical terminology
- Anatomy and physiology
- Medical law and ethics
- Psychology for the medical professional
- Workplace relations
- Computer literacy
- English and writing for the medical assistant
- Basic accounting procedures
Medical Assisting Administrative Skills (front office)
Assisting the physician by taking care of patients’ administrative needs which could include:
- Managing  appointments
- Accounting/bookkeeping
- Coding procedures
- Insurance processing
- Phone calls
- Assisting patients in checking in and out
- Telephone techniques
- Opening and closing the office
- Maintainence of equipment
- Inventory ordering
- Pamphlet development
- Safety
- Emergency contact list
Medical Assisting Clinical Skills (back office)
Assisting the physician in providing care will include the following skills:
- OSHA regulations
- Infection control
- Personal protective equipment
- Safety equipment
- Disinfecting and sterile techniques
- Autoclaving instruments for infection control
- Cleaning wounds/bandaging
- Minor surgery/suture removal
- Assisting with exams
- Patient education
- Vital signs
- Well child care
- Breathing techniques/tests
- Electrocardiogram
- Ear lavage
- Dosage calculation
- Injections
- Laboratory procedures
- Specimen collection/tests
- Phlebotomy skills
- Patient triage (phone and In-person)
- Administration of medications
- Emergency procedures
Externship Experience
When you have completed all the courses for Medical Assisting, there will be a 240-hour externship that will need to be completed in an ambulatory care clinic or physician’s office. This experience is required for completion of the program. The student will not be paid for this experience. The program coordinator will work closely with you to help you determine the best place for you to complete this experience.
Admission Requirements
- Please call 801-627-8300 to schedule a time for testing. Tell them that you are enrolling in Medical Assisting. Upon completing the reading and math tests, you will receive an application packet.
- Accuplacer reading score of 72, DRP (Degree of Reading Power) 70, or ACT reading score of 22
- Accuplacer math score of 65, ACT math score of 17, TABE 80%, or successful completion of OWATC Math I course
- High school diploma or GED is required.
- Completed application including physical examination, record of immunizations, completion of interviewing a medical assistant, and the signed statement of responsibility that is in the Medical Assisting Student Handbook (that can be purchased at the college bookstore)
- Copy of your high school diploma or GED or other equivalent
- A background check is required for all students prior to enrolling in the Medical Assisting program
IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you are enrolling in any health occupation program, any misdemeanor or felony conviction relating to drug offenses, assault/violent crimes, sexual assault, fraud, or theft that you have on your record, will result in the college not being able to place you in a clinical or externship site. As a result, you will not be able to complete the program. See your program coordinator for more detailed information.
Enrollment Information:
The Medical Assisting program is offered on the main campus, Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Students can begin class any Monday.
The Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College Medical Assisting Program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) upon the recommendation of the Medical Assistant Education Review Board (MAERB) which works with the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). The Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs can be contacted at 1361 Park Street,  Clearwater, FL 33756 or at (727) 210-2350. The Commission’s web address is www.caahep.org. Students who complete the Medical Assisting Program are eligible to sit for the Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) examination administered by the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA).
Employer Advisory Team:
- Health Clinics of Utah
- Intermountain Helath Care
- McKay-Dee Porter Family Medicine
- Medical Arts Clinic
- Midtown Community Health Center
- Mountainstar Pediatrics
- Ogden Clinic
- Tanner Clinic
After reviewing the information on this website, please call 801-627-8300 for questions about enrolling or costs. If you have specific programmatic questions, please contact Emma Anderson, program coordinator/instructor. Her contact information is listed below.
For enrollment or cost information, please call 801-627-8300. For program-specific information, please contact an instructor below.
Your Instructor(s)
Emma Anderson, CMA (AAMA), RPT, is the coordinator of the Medical Assisting program. She has over 35 years of experience in the medical assisting field including working as a medical assistant in a busy clinic and in medical assisting education. Mrs. Anderson is an active member of the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) and of the Utah State Society of Medical Assistants (USSMA). She has served in many positions including president of the USSMA. She currently is the membership representative on the board. Â She is a site surveyor for the AAMA, surveying programs across the nation for their Accreditation with Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Program (CAAHEP).
E-Mail:Â andersoe@owatc.edu
Phone:Â 801-627-8445
Office Hours: 7:30-8:00 a.m. and 3:00-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday
Randy Hodges, AAS, AHI, is the health science instructor that supports many of the allied health programs at the college. For many students, his classes will be the first exposure they will have in the field of medical assisting. Students will complete coursework in medical terminology and anatomy and physiology before they progress in the Medical Assisting program. Mr. Hodges served as a medical technician for nearly 22 years in the United States Air Force before joining our staff. He holds an associate of applied science degree from the Community College of the Air Force and is currently a certified allied health instructor and member of American Medical Technologists.
E-Mail:Â hodgesr@owatc.edu
Phone:Â 801-627-8424
Office Hours:Â 7:30 – 8:00 a.m. and 3:00-4:00 p.m. Monday-Friday
Program Completion Rates and Additional Information
*Individual choices may influence how long it takes to complete a program, which affects the overall on-time completion rate. For example:
- A student might only attend part-time instead of full-time.
- A student may wish to take additional elective courses.
- A student will progress through coursework at an individual rate in self-paced programs.
- A student could change to a different program before completing the first one.
**The Ogden-Weber tech college offers low tuition and multiple options for financial aid. It does not rely on loan programs so the median loan debt for all programs is zero, enabling students to enter the workforce with no student debt.
