Medical assistant scope of practice in Washington

In Washington, a medical assistant-certified handles the tasks a health care practitioner hands over and oversees, according to state law. You do not decide on your own to give an injection or draw blood. The practitioner hands you the task and remains responsible for supervision.

With the certified credential, you may perform capillary blood withdrawal, meaning a finger or heel stick. Venipuncture is also permitted, and that means using a needle to draw blood from a vein. Injections may be intradermal, subcutaneous or intramuscular, so shots can go into the skin, beneath the skin or into muscle.

Washington also recognizes a medical assistant-phlebotomist credential. That credential is for capillary, venous or arterial blood draws, as set out in the same law. When phlebotomy is the only work you want, this credential focuses on that.

Medication administration is restricted to unit or verified dosages, and a written order is always required. Legend drugs, which are prescription medicines, fall within your allowed scope, and vaccines do too. Schedule III to V drugs are also permitted. These are controlled substances that carry less risk of misuse than the most tightly restricted ones.

Two categories are off limits entirely: experimental drugs and chemotherapy. A written order does not open the door to them, because the law keeps them out of medical assistant work.

You can, within certain limits. A certified medical assistant can establish an IV line with supervision in place, though medication cannot be given through that line.

IV injections of diagnostic or therapeutic agents require direct visual supervision, so the supervising practitioner has to be present and watching. State minimum standards also have to be met beforehand, according to state law.

Washington offers certified and registered medical assistant credentials, as well as a separate phlebotomist credential for blood draws.

Under the credential rules, registration depends on a practitioner's or workplace's endorsement. Certification rests on your own training and exam. The certified credential covers blood draws, injections and medication tasks. The separate phlebotomist credential is the one that also covers arterial draws.

Across the country we list 1,094 medical assistant programs, and 484 are accredited by CAAHEP or ABHES, meaning an outside group has reviewed them. That is a good place to begin if the certified credential is your goal.

Among the 378 career schools that report this, the typical time to finish is 9 months. The published median price for a full program at career schools is $17,257, and one year of full-time study at a public college costs $4,346 at the median for in-district students, based on federal school data.

Distance education is offered by some programs. Even so, supervised clinical practice happens face to face. This hands-on training goes by names such as a practicum or externship. Of the 30 programs whose classes can be completed by distance education, 14 are accredited.

In May 2025, the median yearly pay for medical assistants was $45,690, which works out to $21.97 an hour, according to federal wage data. The median for phlebotomists was $45,230, and nursing assistants earned $42,260.

Ready to start? Compare accredited programs on our Washington programs page, then use the short form there to request information from the one school you choose.