In the United Kingdom a Medical Assistant  is a member of the Royal Navy Medical Branch. Prior to the 1970s they were known as Sick Berth Attendants. The United States Navy equivalent is the Hospital Corpsman.Another group known as Medical Assistants evolved in the United States in the early 1950s. These were a group of trained-on-the-job medical assistants gathered together to form a professional organization. Encouragement and support by the American Medical Association (AMA) lead to the creation of the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA), which was founded in 1956. The first president of this newly-formed organization was Maxine Williams.

In 1978 medical assisting as a profession was formally recognized by the United States Department of Education. And later, in 1991 the American Association of Medical Assistants approved the current definition of medical assisting:"Medical Assisting is an allied health profession whose practitioners function as members of the health care delivery team and perform administrative and clinical procedures.