Medical assistants perform clinical and administrative tasks in physicians and other health practitioners' offices and outpatient facilities. Specific duties vary from office to office depending on the location and size of the practice and the practitioner's specialty. Administrative duties include answering telephones, greeting patients, scheduling appointments and laboratory services, updating and filing patients' medical records, filling out insurance forms, and handling billing and bookkeeping. Clinical duties include taking medical histories and recording vital signs, explaining procedures to patients, preparing patients for and assisting the physician during examinations, collecting and preparing laboratory specimens, sterilizing medical instruments, instructing patients on medications and special diets, preparing and administering medications as directed by a physician, drawing blood, taking electrocardiograms, removing sutures, and changing dressings. The primary goal of the Medical Assisting Certificate program is to prepare medical assistants who are competent in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains to enter the profession. Completion of this certificate will provide the student with the administrative and clinical skills needed for entry-level positions as a medical assistant. Students may fully apply this one-year certificate toward the completion of the Medical Assisting Associate Degree.