Medical assistant scope of practice in Georgia

Under the Georgia Composite Medical Board rule, Georgia considers a medical assistant to be an unlicensed person who works under the supervision of the physician assigning the tasks. You don't apply for or renew a state license.

Your physician decides which tasks to hand you, and only tasks you have been properly trained for. Your role at any workplace depends on the tasks your physician is comfortable assigning and the training you have received.

Georgia's Board rule names the following services a physician may hand off to medical assistants:

• Giving subcutaneous or intramuscular injections
• Measuring vital signs
• Providing nebulizer treatments
• Removing sutures and changing dressings

A subcutaneous injection is placed in the fatty tissue right beneath the skin, while an intramuscular injection is given in a muscle. A nebulizer machine changes liquid medicine into a mist that the patient breathes in.

Georgia law supports this. According to the state statute, nothing bars medical assistants from performing medical tasks, including these injections, when a physician supervises them in the physician's office.

You can give injections in Georgia. Both subcutaneous and intramuscular shots are on the Board's list. Supervision is the key: a physician has to be present on-site while you give the injections, or a PA or APRN who works under protocol must be there. A PA stands for physician assistant. An APRN means advanced practice registered nurse.

Nebulizer treatments follow that same on-site supervision requirement. For vital signs, the rule does not require a physician to be on-site; you still work under the delegating physician's supervision.

Physicians can only assign services you have been properly trained to provide, and they have to maintain records of the services you deliver. That is why training matters in Georgia even though there is no license, because training is what allows a physician to assign injections and other hands-on tasks.

A program that teaches these clinical skills gives you the training that a physician will look for. You can find accredited programs on our Georgia program pages, and request information directly from a school.

The physician bears responsibility. If a physician assigns professional work to someone who lacks the authorization to perform it, that counts as unlicensed practice, and the physician faces discipline from the Board under the Georgia Composite Medical Board rule.

For you, this means finding out which tasks your physician has delegated. Before an injection or nebulizer treatment, make sure a physician, or a PA or APRN working under protocol, is on-site.

On the site, you can browse 1,094 medical assistant programs in all 50 states and Washington, DC. Of those, 484 hold accreditation from CAAHEP or ABHES.

Programs at career schools range from 2 months to 32 months, with most taking 7 to 9 months. If you want a degree, 354 schools on the site offer a medical assistant associate degree.

Thirty programs offer classes by distance education, and 14 are accredited. Their supervised clinical practice, known as a practicum or externship, takes place in person.

Nationally, medical assistants had a median annual pay of $45,690 in May 2025, which works out to $21.97 an hour, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Ready to get trained? Open our Georgia program page, pick one accredited program and send the short Request information form under the tables. It goes straight to that school.