Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

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Medical Assistants (MA) work directly with patients and providers such as doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. An MA is an integral member of the healthcare team. You can find MAs working within large healthcare organizations or small private practice clinics. They can work within a primary care or specialty setting.

The Oregon Employment Department forecasts that Medical Assistant job openings will increase by 23.3% through 2032.

Why choose Medical Assisting at PCC?

Here are some unique offerings that we provide for our students:

• East and west site locations!
• Flexible classes
  • In-person, hybrid, remote and online
• 9 month program
• Guaranteed admissions process
• A new cohort starts every term!
• Instructors that have graduated from the program
• Opportunities for paid externship
  • Get paid while completing clinical hours!
• On average 93% of our students are employed within a month after graduation
• On average 95% of our students pass their national exam
• Our Fall 2023 graduates made an average starting salary of $48,270/year
• Low total cost of the program compared to the majority of MA programs in the area!

Our focus is on helping our students become well rounded, competent and employable Medical Assistants. Instructors in the program have gone through the program themselves which allows for a different experience than you may find in other programs. We understand that success isn’t always linear. We believe that every student that comes into the program can be successful. While we can’t do the work for you, we can be there to support, mentor and guide you through.

We regularly assess the program for areas of improvement. We take into account emerging trends in healthcare, direct feedback from current students as well as input from healthcare organizations in the area.

Our program is well regarded for shaping high quality Medical Assistants. Employers note that they see a difference in our graduates compared to other programs. We believe this is due to our in-depth curriculum that focuses on person-centered care, the way we support and engage our students as well as the growth mindset we have as a program.

Nationally accredited

Our program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Educational Programs (CAAHEP) in collaboration with the American Association of Medical Assistants. Our graduates are eligible to take the CMA (AAMA) national certification examination, conducted by the Certifying Board of the American Association of Medical Assistants.

Successful graduates

PCC’s Medical Assisting program places a high focus on student success. According to our most recent Annual Report data, over the last five years (2018-2022*) we had an average 96.94% retention rate, 93.93% national exam passage rate and 88.39% job placement rate!

*This data includes information during the COVID-19 pandemic in which the program saw a large decline in job placement and national exam passage rates. 

Degrees and certificates

What will you learn?

• Clinical procedures
  Such as venipuncture, blood pressure, EKG’s, injections, wound care and much more!
• Administrative procedures
  Such as documenting in an electronic health record system (EHR), scheduling appointments, scrubbing a patient’s chart and much more.
• Communication Skills
  Such as person-centered communication, working through communication barriers, trauma informed care, patient interviewing, culturally competent care and much more.
• Employability Skills
  Such as working on a team, professionalism, resume writing, interview preparation, national exam prep and much more.

What will you do?