You know you’d make a good medical assistant if you love the idea of helping doctors and nurses take care of patients. Medical assistants provide essential support by handling varying administrative and clinical tasks.
Like clinicians, medical assistants can earn more money and have more control over their work by choosing a specialty. There are many different types of medical assistant specialties you can consider.
If you’re an aspiring medical assistant with an interest in helping people expand their families, becoming a fertility medical assistant might be right for you.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about fertility medical assistants, including what they do, where they work, how much they make, and how to become one.
What is a Fertility Medical Assistant?
As you might guess, a fertility medical assistant helps clinicians provide care to patients struggling to become parents. They blend general medical assisting skills with knowledge of fertility treatments.
To be a good fertility medical assistant, you’ll need to learn about reproductive medicine, have an empathetic attitude, and a knack for organization.
They typically work in fertility clinics and other settings where they can support specialized treatments such as IVF, egg and sperm preservation, and hormone monitoring. They are critical to providing a supportive, compassionate environment for patients.
What Does a Fertility Medical Assistant Do?
Wondering how you’ll spend your days as a fertility medical assistant? In most cases, you’ll be handling the usual mix of clinical and administrative duties expected of any medical assistant, in addition to some more specialized tasks.
A fertility medical assistant’s clinical duties might include:
- Assisting with procedures. All medical assistants serve as an extra pair of hands during procedures. For patients getting fertility treatment, that’s even more important. You’ll help with ultrasounds, pap smears, examinations, and more, while keeping patients comfortable.
- Collecting samples. Like any other type of medical assistant, fertility medical assistants are expected to collect samples like blood, stool, and urine, sometimes with physician supervision. You may also be asked to coordinate testing with outside facilities.
- Taking vital signs. Medical assistants are responsible for taking and recording vitals like heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature. You’ll need to be accurate with these recordings to avoid mistakes.
As a fertility medical assistant, your administrative duties may include:
- Greeting patients. You’ll often be the first face patients see when they enter the waiting area. You’ll need a warm and helpful attitude to succeed, especially at a fertility clinic, since it’s reasonable for patients to have complicated feelings about reproductive matters.
- Scheduling appointments. At smaller clinics without dedicated administrative staff, it’s typical for medical assistants to take on scheduling responsibilities. A keen eye for detail and a knack for organization will help you with this task.
- Answering questions. When a patient is feeling nervous about an upcoming procedure or confused by a test result, they may contact your office with questions that providers may be too busy to field. That’s where medical assistants come in, using their specialized knowledge and empathetic manner to soothe concerns and set expectations.
- Stocking the office. Some medical assistants are expected to maintain stockpiles of essential supplies for office use, such as syringes, gloves, and cleaning products. You’ll need to keep careful track of inventory and order fresh supplies when necessary.
Where Do Fertility Medical Assistants Work?
Medical assistants work in a variety of settings across the country, mainly physicians’ offices, hospitals, and outpatient care centers.
Fertility medical assistants, in particular, are more likely to work in private settings like fertility clinics and research centers that focus on reproductive health. They typically work in fertility clinics, OB-GYN practices with reproductive services, and reproductive endocrinology offices.
Regardless of setting, you can expect to spend most of your workday on your feet seeing patients, helping clinicians, and keeping things tidy and organized.
What Skills Are Required to Be a Fertility Medical Assistant?
On top of the specific knowledge needed to perform their duties, fertility medical assistants also require a variety of soft skills to succeed in their role, such as:
- Attention to detail. Like all medical assistants, you’ll need a keen eye for detail to avoid making potentially costly or even dangerous errors.
- Communication skills. Communicating effectively with clinicians and patients is key to fulfilling your duties as a medical assistant, from explaining procedures to patients to conveying vital information to doctors and nurses.
- Empathy and compassion. As a fertility medical assistant, it’s all the more important that you maintain an empathetic attitude toward patients. Most fertility journeys offer wonderful highs and devastating lows, so you’ll need to be ready to help patients work through big emotions when needed.
- Time management. A big part of being a medical assistant is helping hospital or clinic operations run smoothly and efficiently. You’ll need solid time management skills to ensure every patient gets the time they need.
Fertility Medical Assistant Salaries & Job Outlook
The job market for medical assistants in the United States is currently strong and set to keep growing in the future. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that medical assistant employment will increase by 15% nationwide in the next decade—well above the average for all occupations.
As for salary, the average annual pay for medical assistants across the country is $44,054 (or $21.18 per hour). Of course, your actual salary will vary depending on your location, your employer, and your prior experience and training.
Some of the highest paid medical assistants are those that work in specialized areas.
How to Become a Fertility Medical Assistant
Now that you know what it’s really like to be a fertility medical assistant, let’s talk about the steps you’ll take to become one:
- Obtain your high school diploma or GED. To work as any kind of medical assistant, you’ll first need to either graduate from high school or earn an equivalency degree.
- Choose and complete a training program. Next, you’ll need to research medical assistant training programs and pick the best option for you. You can study online or in person for as long as a few years or as little as a few weeks, depending on your choice of program.
- Take an exam to get certified. While technically optional in most states, getting certified is an important step toward becoming a medical assistant. Most employers won’t hire you if you haven’t passed one of the handful of certification exams for medical assistants offered nationwide.
- Pursue fertility-focused externships or education. Once you’re certified as a medical assistant, you might want to seek out additional experience or education in fertility medicine specifically. This could mean taking fertility-focused classes, working at a fertility clinic, or studying relevant topics on your own time.
- Apply for jobs and start your career. Lastly, you’ll be ready to launch your career at one of the hundreds of hospitals, clinics, and health systems actively seeking medical assistants. You may need to take one or two general medical assistant jobs to gain experience before you move into a fertility-focused role.
