Aspiring Medical Assistants Can Now Provide Care for Virtual Patients via Interactive Simulation

Today, medical assisting is one of the fastest growing professions in the nation. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of Medical Assistants is expected to grow 35 percent from 2006 to 2016. With a crowded field and increased competition for employment, it is important for medical assisting students to be a step ahead by obtaining medical certification through various organizations including the Certifying Board of American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). ACTIVSim™, distributed by McGraw-Hill Higher Education, is a Medical Assisting Clinical Simulator that prepares students for certification and enables them to hone their medical skills. Using virtual patients with real-life cases and real-time feedback allows for a realistic clinical experience.

"ACTIVSim™ is the only online product on the market that allows medical assisting students to practice and learn using simulated patients and medical situations from the comfort of their own homes," said Jim Kelly, President of McGraw-Hill Higher Education's Career Group. "Just as pilots sharpen their flying skills using simulation, we provide students with a resource for life-like virtual instruction to practice their medical assisting skills over and over again. McGraw-Hill is pleased to provide this virtual learning tool and to help medical assisting students achieve the certification they need to succeed in their chosen careers."

Certification for the Medical Assistant indicates the individual has met certain standards of competence. To achieve certification, students must first successfully complete a medical assisting educational program accredited by either the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) or the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES). Students must also pass the CMA (AAMA) Certification Examination. If medical assisting students plan to continue training and take a medical certification exam, they must go through extensive training in a medical office and demonstrate their confidence and capabilities to physicians daily.

Students can use ACTIVSim™ in conjunction with other AAMA certification course materials to improve their confidence and competence in working with real patients. In the classroom, students have limited time to practice their medical assisting skills. ACTIVSim™ allows students repeated practice both during class and outside of the classroom on critical skills such as communication, patient interviewing and clinical competencies.

ACTIVSim™ consists of 15 different Clinical Skills Simulators that allow students to practice their clinical competencies through step-by-step instruction. The program also offers six patient case Clinical Simulators that introduce students to non-acute patient case scenarios. After each simulation, the students receive comprehensive feedback on their performance regarding the patient interactions and their ability to perform each skill successfully.

McGraw-Hill's ACTIVSim™ was developed in partnership with Area9, a global leader in simulation and debriefing technologies. The Area9 team includes some of the most experienced software developers, medical doctors and education specialists in the simulation industry.

  For more information, visit http://www.mhhe.com/activsim/ma/


  About McGraw-Hill Higher Education

McGraw-Hill Higher Education is a premier provider of print and digital teaching and learning solutions for the post-secondary and higher education markets worldwide. It is a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, a leading global provider of print and digital instructional, assessment and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. McGraw-Hill Education has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 60 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com/.

About Area9

Founded in 2006 by former directors of Laerdal Medical (www.laerdal.com) and founders of Sophus Medical, Area9 counts the leading computer simulation experts who have been responsible for large scale simulation programs for the United States army medical services and the American Heart Association, among several other global organizations. Additional information is available at http://www.area9.dk/

  Contact:
  Tom Stanton
  McGraw-Hill Education
  (212) 904-3214
  tom_stanton@mcgraw-hill.com

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SOURCE: McGraw-Hill Higher Education

CONTACT: Tom Stanton, of McGraw-Hill Education, +1-212-904-3214,
tom_stanton@mcgraw-hill.com

Web Site: http://www.area9.dk/
http://www.laerdal.com/
http://www.mheducation.com/
http://www.mhhe.com/activsim/ma