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Medical assistants are health care providers who perform administrative and clinical tasks to support the work of medical doctors and other health professionals.[1][2] They perform routine tasks and procedures such as measuring patients' vital signs, administering medications and injections, recording information in medical records-keeping systems, preparing and handling medical instruments and supplies, and collecting and preparing specimens of bodily fluids and tissues for laboratory testing.

The term "medical assistant" may have legal status in all nations where they can be certified or registered, whereas elsewhere they may be a loosely defined group (covering related occupational titles such as ‘medical office assistant’, ‘clinical assistant’, 'assistant medical officer', or ‘ophthalmic assistant’). The term should not be confused with physician assistants, who may perform advanced clinical, therapeutic and surgical procedures.