How To Become A Medical Historian: What It Is and Career Path

What is a medical historian and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted Expert

Janice Noteboom, MHA/Ed., CMA (AAMA)

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a medical historian. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.33 an hour? That's $29,797 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 16% and produce 117,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Medical Historian?

Janice Noteboom, MHA/Ed., CMA (AAMA)

Faculty Coordinator of Allied Health/Medical Assistant Program Director, Midstate College

-LIKE- People who enjoy working as a Medical Assistant do it because they get a
great satisfaction from help other people. They are often the first contact with the
patient in the medical facility, which sets the tone for the rest of the visit.
They feel good making sure that their patients have the right information that they
need, the appropriate medical care they need, and helping patients feel better.
Good problem-solving skills, compassion, understanding, patience and keeping
up with a fast-paced office is very rewarding.
-DISLIKE- Some Medical Assistants have determined that there are
area/tasks/etc. that they dislike, listed below are some of these things:
 You’re always around people who are sick
 Long work hours can include 10 or 12-hour days
 Lower starting salary, which is usually based on education and
experience level
 Having to deal with stressful situations and difficult patients
 Dealing with patients who are angry, cranky, anxious or not feeling well
 Working under pressure from extremely tight deadlines

ScoreMedical HistorianUS Average

Salary

2.3

Avg. Salary $29,797

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.9

Growth Rate 16%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.83%

Asian 7.59%

Black or African American 6.93%

Hispanic or Latino 19.09%

Unknown 4.47%

White 61.09%

Gender

female 79.88%

male 20.12%

Age - 35

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 35

Stress Level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.4

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

8.6

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a medical historian

Explore medical historian education requirements

Most common medical historian degrees

Bachelor's

37.3 %

Associate

17.8 %

High School Diploma

17.8 %

Start to develop specific medical historian skills

Skills	Percentages
Vital Signs	19.03%
Blood Pressure	17.61%
Patients	16.00%
Blood Samples	6.60%
Computer System	6.00%

Complete relevant medical historian training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New medical historians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a medical historian based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real medical historian resumes.

Research medical historian duties and responsibilities

Adhere to OSHA guidelines while performing instrument sterilization in addition to managing medical inventory.
Reconcile the patients' electronic medical chart to reflect the current medication history.
Evaluate donor suitability, maintain compliance with FDA regulations and company polices.
Interview patients and applicants for worker compensation and personal injury clients in English/Spanish.

Prepare your medical historian resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your medical historian resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a medical historian resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Medical Historian Resume templates

Build a professional Medical Historian resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Medical Historian resume.

Apply for medical historian jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a medical historian job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do medical historians rate their job?