Medical assistant scope of practice in Tennessee

Ready to start? Open our Tennessee program page, which lists schools statewide and shows which of them hold accreditation. Since hospital outpatient clinics in Tennessee use only certified medical assistants, choose an accredited program from that list, then send the short "Request information" form that follows the program tables on that page. Include your name, email, phone, ZIP code and preferred start time, and your request goes straight to that one school.

If home study suits you better, 30 of the listed programs can be finished entirely through distance education, and 14 of those are accredited. Coursework happens online, while the supervised clinical hours, practicum or externship take place in person at a clinic or office.

Your supervising doctor makes the call, within the boundaries the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners sets. The board uses the term delegation, which just means the physician assigns you a task and keeps ownership of how it gets carried out.

That duty sits with the doctor, but it reaches you too. The board's delegation policy makes the delegating doctor responsible for what you do.

A delegated task can only be done while the doctor is physically present or can be reached immediately by phone or video. If the physician cannot be contacted, the task has to wait.

This says nothing about how capable you are. It is simply how the board sets supervision for delegated tasks.

Only tasks that would not threaten the patient's life, or cause immediate serious harm, if performed incorrectly may be delegated. Anything with more risk than that remains with the physician or another licensed clinician.

The line is easy to see in daily practice. Routine care with low risk falls within your role. Procedures where an error could seriously hurt a patient are off the table, and that holds true no matter how much experience you build up.

Patients are treated and go home the same day rather than being admitted to the hospital. If a hospital owns such a clinic, Tennessee law adds firmer requirements than the board policy that applies to physician offices.

To qualify there as a certified medical assistant, you need to be at least 18, have a high school diploma or GED, plus certification through AMT, AAMA, NCCT, NHA or NAHP. That state law lists those 5 organizations, so a program that gets you ready for one of their exams can keep that option open.

In a hospital-owned outpatient clinic, giving approved vaccines in standard doses is allowed for certified medical assistants, within certain limits.

Other medications need a doctor's delegation. This covers intramuscular injections, which enter the muscle, and subcutaneous injections, which go beneath the skin. The law limits you to ordered single-dose products that are ready to give, including intramuscular or subcutaneous medications.

Phlebotomy, the term for drawing a patient's blood, counts as patient care that a physician or nurse can assign to certified medical assistants working in a hospital outpatient clinic. The statute names it directly.

That opens up options if you want a blend of office and clinical work. Blood draws are a central clinical skill, and Tennessee allows a certified assistant to perform them under a clinician's direction.

Hospital inpatients and emergency department patients are excluded. Even for certified medical assistants, the law bars giving medication to hospital inpatients and to people receiving care in the emergency room.

If you picture yourself giving injections in a busy emergency room, that is not part of this role in Tennessee. The hospital outpatient clinic law does not allow certified medical assistants to give medications to hospital inpatients or emergency department patients.

The hospital clinic law recognizes certified medical assistants only, so the program you choose influences the workplaces open to you. This site lists 1,094 medical assistant programs, 484 of which hold accreditation from CAAHEP or ABHES. Pick an accredited program from our Tennessee page, then fill in the short Request information form after the program tables and the school will get your request.

Program length tends to be brief. Of the 378 career schools that share this information, the median length is 9 months, with 257 programs lasting 7 to 9 months and just 43 running longer than 12. At 392 career schools, the median published price for the whole program is $17,257, while, at 437 public colleges, the median cost of in-district tuition and fees for one year is $4,346.

Pay depends on the role, which matters when you are weighing this career against what you want.

Source: BLS occupational wage tables.