April 12, 2012. Samuel Valero
Some people make a lot of money in the medical field. We always think of doctors and nurses when we think of people working in medicine but they are certainly not the only ones.
But they do tend to make the most money. And this is fair because of the great deal of time, effort, and money that they invest to get where they are today. We shouldn’t begrudge anyone for making a good living when it is clear that they’ve worked hard and deserve what they make.
Anesthesiologists come to mind when we talk about who is really raking in the big bucks. An anesthesiologist salary can go as high as a half of a million dollars a year if they play their cards right. But consider the amount of schooling it takes to become an anesthesiologist. First you have to graduate a four year undergraduate college with an emphasis on pre-med. Then you’ll have to pass the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) and get accepted into a school of medicine.
After graduating the four years of medical school you have four more years of residency you have to endure. Some young doctors will then add another year for their fellowship as well. So you see that to become an anesthesiologist is not only a great deal of work, it takes a great deal of time as well. And we haven’t even talked about the astronomical costs that come with your certification as an anesthesiologist.
Contrast that to a certified medical assistant. A certified medical assistant salary is only about thirty to thirty-five thousand dollars a year. But it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to become one. Some offices may even give you on the job training although this path seems to be dying out. More and more medical offices require their staff to already be certified. In that a medical assistants job is as much clerical as it is administrative, office managers generally look for someone who is organized and detailed to fill these positions.
Updated April 12, 2012. Published November 7, 2011. Samuel Valero
