How To Become A Clinical Support Associate: What It Is and Career Path

What is a clinical support associate and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Eve Leija AAS, NCMA

Clinical Support Associates support medical treatment in various units. They are also known as Nursing Assistants. They provide patient care and support to various ages from newborns through adulthood, including but not limited to acute medical, hematology, critical care, and emergency patients.

Clinical Support Associates play a vital role in recognition for patient safety and family-centered care. Their responsibilities are usually delegated by licensed nursing staff based on the needs of the units. They are usually in charge of maintaining equipment and supplies according to the standards. Many Clinical Support Associates are nursing students pursuing an Associate's or Bachelor's degree. This role offers practical hands-on training supporting patients and families.

Most employers look for at least a completion of one clinical course of an RN program or identified on the state's Nursing Assistant Register upon hire date. This provision does not need to be retained during the job and is not needed if eventually moving into another CSA role. Some employees prefer candidates to have at least a one-year previous nursing assistant experience or equivalent.

What general advice would you give to a Clinical Support Associate?

Eve Leija AAS, NCMA

Medical Assistant Program Director, Website

To maximize salary for a medical assistant obtaining certification from one of the credentialing organizations such as American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) can make a new hire more competitive. Continuing educations along with developing any specialized skills such as phlebotomy. Demonstrating professionalism initiative and reliability, along with gaining a strong reference from previous employers.

ScoreClinical Support AssociateUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $36,787

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.2

Growth Rate -8%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.37%

Asian 3.77%

Black or African American 9.57%

Hispanic or Latino 11.96%

Unknown 3.77%

White 70.56%

Gender

female 87.47%

male 12.53%

Age - 51

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 - 51

Stress Level

7.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

4.7

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

9.3

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a clinical support associate

Explore clinical support associate education requirements

Most common clinical support associate degrees

Bachelor's

32.7 %

Associate

22.0 %

High School Diploma

15.7 %

Start to develop specific clinical support associate skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	30.78%
Clinical Support	13.01%
Medical Terminology	5.21%
Patient Flow	4.53%
Data Entry	4.28%

Complete relevant clinical support associate training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New clinical support associates 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 clinical support associate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real clinical support associate resumes.

Research clinical support associate duties and responsibilities

Manage inpatient transfers to rehabilitation and medical facilities, along with preparing and monitoring outpatient billings insurance verification and referrals.
Comply with all HIPAA and TotalCare guidelines and regulations.
Coordinate veterans care in the mental health clinic and determine medical benefit eligibility for newly registering veterans.
Used precise information entry and effective communication skills to follow up to patients specific information base on critical thinking skills.

Prepare your clinical support associate resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your clinical support associate 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 clinical support associate resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Clinical Support Associate Resume templates

Build a professional Clinical Support Associate 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 Clinical Support Associate resume.

Apply for clinical support associate jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a clinical support associate 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 clinical support associates rate their job?

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Clinical Support Associate reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020

Cons

There's nothing to dislike.

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2019