An 18-week medical assistant course covers the complete scope of clinical and administrative skills that medical offices need — from phlebotomy and injections to EHR documentation and insurance verification. Here’s a realistic week-by-week look at what the course at Waco Medical Assistant School in Waco actually covers.
The program runs 18 weeks, hybrid, with in-person classes on Saturdays (4.5 hours of hands-on practice per week), inside real medical offices. The curriculum breaks into four phases:
Medical terminology — the vocabulary of healthcare. Every chart note, lab order, and provider instruction uses this language. Learning it early means the rest of the course makes more sense.
Anatomy and physiology — practical anatomy, not a college biology deep dive. How the body’s major systems work, why diseases affect specific organs, and what clinical tests measure. This knowledge underpins every clinical procedure you’ll perform.
Infection control — OSHA standards, sterilization science, PPE protocols, hand hygiene. Understanding the science behind infection prevention before you practice the physical procedures.
Patient communication — intake procedures, managing anxious patients, documenting chief complaints, explaining procedures in plain language.
Introduction to vital signs — theory and technique before hands-on practice. Blood pressure by auscultation, pulse palpation, temperature measurement, respiratory rate counting.
This is where the course becomes hands-on:
Vital signs in practice — taking complete sets of vitals accurately and quickly. In a busy practice, you’ll do this 20–30 times per day. Speed and accuracy are both critical.
Phlebotomy — venipuncture technique, proper tube order of draw, specimen labeling, patient management during blood draws. O*NET ranks phlebotomy among the most frequently performed medical assistant tasks.
Injections — IM, SubQ, and intradermal technique. Proper needle selection, site identification, angle and depth for each type, aspiration technique, and documentation.
EKG/ECG — 12-lead electrode placement, running the test, recognizing artifacts, transmitting results. Placement precision determines result quality — this requires hands-on practice.
Point-of-care testing — urinalysis (dipstick and microscopic), blood glucose, rapid strep, rapid flu, pregnancy tests. Following quality control procedures and documenting results.
Advanced clinical procedures — wound care, assisting during exams and procedures, specimen collection, nebulizer treatments, ear irrigation.
Electronic health records — navigating and documenting in EHR systems (Epic, eClinicalWorks, Athena, NextGen). Data entry, orders, referrals, prescription management.
Scheduling and patient flow — booking appointments, managing provider calendars, handling urgent requests, coordinating specialty referrals.
Insurance and billing — verifying coverage, processing prior authorizations, understanding CPT and ICD-10 codes, collecting copays, answering billing questions.
HIPAA compliance — patient privacy in practice. What information can be shared, with whom, and how — in documentation, conversation, and electronic communication.
Pharmacology basics — common medication classes, routes of administration, side effects, safety protocols. Not prescribing — understanding what providers order and why.
Comprehensive review — every clinical and administrative domain on the CCMA exam.
Practice exams — full-length simulations under exam conditions to build test-taking stamina and identify weak areas.
Externship — supervised clinical experience in a real medical office in Waco. You apply the full scope of your training with actual patients.
Career readiness — resume writing, interview preparation, job search strategies. Not generic career advice — specific guidance for medical assistant job applications.
By graduation, you’ll have practiced and demonstrated competency in every task O*NET classifies as core for medical assistants:
You’ll also be prepared to sit for the CCMA certification exam.
