Northwest PA News

Clarion University issued the following announcement on Oct. 14.

Clarion University has been named one of 2021’s best schools for online programs and courses in healthcare education by EduMed.org. Clarion earned top honors for Most Affordable Online Medical Assistant Programs.

Clarion offers a Clinical Medical Assistant certificate. The training provides students with the skills necessary to function in the back office setting of medical practices. Students will learn to collect vitals, the various medical instruments, draping and positioning, medical record documentation, suturing, administration of EKG's, immunizations/injections, and how to assist in minor office surgery.

"We set out to find schools that are making online education a priority," said Wes Ricketts, founder of EduMed.org. "Each school in our rankings has a winning combination of flexibility, affordability, academic rigor and student support. This is a tall task in a field that leans on face-to-face interaction and hands-on training."

Clarion's recognition comes at a time when students across the country are taking more of their courses either fully or partially online. According to data from the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, enrollment in online courses increased by 93 percent between Fall 2019 and Fall 2020. Nearly two-thirds of college students took at least one online course in 2020.

"COVID-19 forced many schools to rapidly expand their online program catalogs to meet increased student demand," said Ricketts. "The colleges that offer accredited online courses in the widest variety of disciplines stand to benefit the most from the mass transition to higher education online."

EduMed.org researched and analyzed more than 7,700 accredited schools using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and from the schools themselves. The website's data science team then applied a proprietary algorithm to rank all qualifying schools for each healthcare discipline. Primary data points include:

• Number of online programs in subject area
• Online program tuition and fees
• Access to academic counseling
• Access to career placement services
• Number of online students
• Percentage of students with institutional aid

To be eligible, a school must hold active regional accreditation and have at least one partially online program in the ranking subject. Just eight percent of U.S. postsecondary institutions earned a ranking position.

EduMed.org set out in 2018 to support higher education in healthcare. Our free resource materials and expert-driven guidebooks help students find scholarships, financial aid and top degree programs in nursing, healthcare administration, public health, and dozens of other key medical and health disciplines. Since the site's official launch in 2019, EduMed.org has been featured by more than 100 premier colleges and universities across the U.S.

Original source can be found here.