Career Advancement Volumes

The AMCA produces a series of Career Advancement Volumes that can be used to renew your AMCA certification or enhance your resume and career.

To learn how to use a Career Advancement Volume to renew your AMCA certification, view our Using AMCA CE Material. If you do not hold an AMCA certification, click the “Advance Your Career Today” button and create an AMCA account today.

Career Advancement Volume 7: HIPPA

 Volume Objectives:

  • Discuss state and federal law related to patient privacy.
  • Describe examples of inappropriate use of social media and strategies to reduce the risks.
  • Understand changes to HIPAA, related to COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Understand patient privacy concerns associated with the acquisition, transmission and sharing of clinical photographs among health-care providers.
  • Establish a basic understanding of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Career Advancement Volume 8: CDC & Contact Precautions

 Volume Objectives:

  • Review evidence from national literature supporting adherence to standard precautions.
  • Discuss strategies to promote adherence to standard precautions among healthcare workers.
  • Understand the effectiveness of contact precautions against transmission of multi-drug resistant organisms.
  • Describe the difference between contact, droplet and airborne precautions against transmission of respiratory viruses.
  • Understand the application of infection prevention and control in pediatric patient populations.

Career Advancement Volume 9: Telehealth

 Volume Objectives:

  • Understand the purpose, strengths and weaknesses of text messaging utilization in Telehealth.
  • Understand the significance of information gaps regarding the long-term effects, acceptability, costs and risks of mobile health (mHealth).
  • Discuss the impact of the shift to virtual healthcare and the changes related to the medical assistant role in the context of national professional competency standards.
  • Discuss the potential health gaps created by numerous available mobile health applications.
  • “Describe examples of the relation between network communication systems, sensor technologies, and Telehealth”

Career Advancement Volume 10: Accurate Medical History

 Volume Objectives:

  • Discuss the importance of obtaining an accurate family medical history and its’ significance with identifying risk factors for chronic diseases.
  • Discuss the importance of combining accurate history taking and empathetic communication for effective clinical decision-making and patient satisfaction.
  • Review the value of the patient interview and electronic questionnaire methods of health history data collection.
  • Review the significance of medical history and patient/family communication as a mainstay of accurate diagnosis.
  • Discuss the importance of accurate medication reconciliation and keeping updated medication records.

Career Advancement Volume 11: New Medical Devices

 Volume Objectives:

  • Distinguish the difference between mobile cardiac telemetry and event/Holter monitors, as well as review the pros and cons of each medical device.
  • Discuss the role of the medical assistant in the application of the small bowel capsule endoscopy.
  • Review proper sterilization technique of reusable medical equipment via autoclaving.
  • Review and understand newer automated external defibrillator devices in the treatment of ventricular fibrillation.
  • Evaluate the benefits of wearable wireless electrocardiogram (EKG) patches in the monitoring and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias.

Career Advancement Volume 12: Taking Vital Signs

 Volume Objectives:

  • Establish the importance of maintaining manual blood pressure measurement skills in comparison to relying on automated blood pressure measurement.
  • Review common errors made when measuring blood pressure and discussing techniques to avoid such errors.
  • Understand the importance of accurate body temperature in diagnosis and review four noninvasive peripherally methods of measuring body temperature.
  • Review the knowledge and skills required for accurate manual pulse measurement to safely care for patients.
  • Discuss how to measure and record accurate respiratory rate.
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