4 Best Medical Assisting Schools in Oakland, CA

About the School

Merritt College in Oakland, CA, has many excellent programs, including a medical assisting program.

The program provides a balanced administrative and clinical curriculum, and students learn through lectures and laboratory courses and will receive clinical experience in a community healthcare facility.

Courses Offered

Students must pass several classes to earn their degree, including:

• CPR and First Aid for Allied Health Partners: This course includes HIPPA compliance, professional and therapeutic communication, telehealth applications, and employment preparation.
• Medical Terminology I: Students learn the medical terms necessary to work in a healthcare environment.
• Introduction to Medical Assisting
• Disorders of the Body Systems in Primary Care: In this course, students learn the fundamentals of disorders of organs and body systems. The course focuses mainly on the most common disorders seen in ambulatory care and medical offices.
• Clinical Medical Assisting I: This course focuses on the fundamentals of clinical medical assisting, such as aseptic procedures, taking patient histories and vital signs, and assisting the doctor.
• Clinical Medical Assisting II: Students learn more in-depth skills in this course, such as urine and blood specimen collection, how to take an EKG, radiologic diagnostics, and phlebotomy principles.
• Clinical Medical Assisting III: This advanced class includes the basics of pharmacology, administrating, intradermal, subcutaneous, and intramuscular medication, and applied phlebotomy skills.
• Occupational Work Experience In Medical Assisting: Students work in a healthcare facility to complete the program. Students must complete two to three units, and 75 hours of paid work equals one unit, and 60 hours of non-paid work also equals one unit.

This is a 16-unit program and costs between $2,000 and $3,000, and financial aid is available.

The total cost is broken up between:

• Books and software
• Scrubs
• Tuition
• Computer needs Supplies
• CPR 1st Aid

About the School

Vasco Career College is a vocational school that trains students to develop the skills necessary to begin a successful career and is located just 14 minutes from Oakland.

The school offers various programs in the medical field, including medical assisting.

Courses Offered

The Medical Assisting program is a 480-hour program and includes 320 hours of classroom instruction and a 160-hour clinical externship.

Students learn everything they’ll need to know when working in the healthcare industry, including:

• Medical administration, including scheduling appointments, updating patient medical records, HIPPA, preparing medical records, and billing and coding basics.
• Basic wound care
• Administering medications and injections
• Drawing blood and other bodily specimens
• Taking and recording patient histories
• Preparing patients for X-rays
• Taking an EKG
• Dressing changes
• Documenting patient symptoms

The cost of tuition is $6,800 plus a $200 registration fee, and students must pay $7,003.40.

There may be other expenses that must be paid out of pocket, including:

• CPR-BLS course
• Textbooks and workbooks
• Uniform
• Background check and drug screen
• Stethoscope and sphygmomanometer

About the School

Contra Costa College is located in San Pablo, CA, just 14 miles from Oakland, CA.

The college opened its doors in 1949 and is situated on 83 acres with a beautiful, natural landscape.

The college offers many associate degree and certificate programs, including Medical Assisting.

Courses Offered

Students must complete 60 units of degree credit coursework to earn an Associate in Science Degree and must pass all courses with a C or better.

The classes are broken up by semester and include the following:

1st Semester- Fall

• Introduction to Health Professions
• Medical Terminology I
• Administrative Medical Assisting
• EHRs and Computer Applications
• Human Anatomy

2nd Semester- Spring

• Clinical Skills I
• Pharmacology and Dosage Calculations for Medical Assistant
• Human Disease Conditions

Summer Session

• Clinical Skills II
• CPR for Health Care Providers

3rd Semester- Fall

• Clinical Practicum I
• Medical Law, Ethics, and Economics
• Job Search Strategies

4th Semester- Spring

• Clinical Practicum Experience II
• Health Insurance
• Introduction to Medical Coding
• Intercultural Communication or Public Speaking
• Students must take Social Problems, Social Psychology, Culture Ethnicity in Social Psychology, or Introduction to Ethics.

The medical assisting program is the most extensive, and the tuition and fees cost $9,882.

The national average for medical assisting programs is $15,570, making Contra Costa College more cost-effective.

About the School

Health Career College opened its doors in 2003 and has helped over 6,000 students over the years reach their career goals in the healthcare field.

With small class sizes, the teachers can make each student a priority.

Courses Offered

Students in the program learn through lectures and hands-on training, providing a well-rounded education.

The program is divided into three modules, Phlebotomy, EKG, and Medical Assisting.

Students learn various things in each module, including:

• Anatomy and physiology
• Standard clinical procedures
• Infection control
• Control applications
• Patient communications
• Confidentiality and medical ethics
• Administration procedures

This is a ten-month program, and 8 ½ months include didactic courses and clinical skills labs, and 1 ½ months of clinical externship working at a healthcare facility in the community.

The tuition is $10,000 with a $100 registration fee.

Students will be required to pay additional expenses, including:

• Phlebotomy National Exam Registration
• EKG National Exam Registration
• MA National Exam Registration
• CPT-1 License