Took it today 8/27. I seriously thought I failed and because I didn’t get my results right away I was left with a lot of anxiety and dread until I got a email notification on my watch from NHA telling me that my certification was just the beginning. I’m honestly so happy that I’m done with this finally 😮‍💨!

Not really looking for advice unless anybody has some. As the title says, I have suddenly developed an aversion to blood draws, injections, and assisting procedures. I’ve talked to management, they said I shouldn’t do those things for a couple weeks and if it continues I’d have to file for a reasonable accommodation. I love my job, I’m passionate about where I work, being put into the procedure role has always been my favorite. Now, I panic. My body shuts down. My hands sweat. I feel lightheaded. It could be burn out, I’ve been here for 3 years. I just really hope this isn’t career ending, and hoping I’m not alone, and hoping it goes away.

When people think about working in healthcare, they usually think about medical knowledge, taking vitals, drawing blood, and helping patients.

But what about the skills nobody really talks about?

Like being able to calm someone down who's terrified of needles, remembering a million little details, or somehow staying organized when everything gets chaotic.

For those already working in healthcare, what's one skill you never expected to use so much?

Sharing your experiences might help someone just starting out realize they're not alone. Sometimes it's nice to know others have been through the same things!

I wear a watch. It helps me have any sense of time. It has an elastic band and I try to keep it up on my arm so I can wash my hands thoroughly. I've seen others remove their watches and then put them back on after, but doesn't that get your hands dirty again? I'm just curious what others do.

I have been a nursing assistant for four years and am currently working on my medical assistant diploma and associate degree. I already have my CCMA, but I don’t want to feel limited so I’m continuing my education. I eventually want to get a bachelor’s in either healthcare administration or health and human services, but don’t know if that will help me further my career or not, like if I wanted to become a practice manager or something along those lines. So my question is medical assistants with a bachelor’s degree, did furthering your education help your career or make zero difference?

I recently posted a question titled "CCMA-Certified but No Externship or Experience..." and received lots of great advice and encouragement from this subreddit. Thank you to everyone who responded <3 !! I wanted to follow up about the online school where I completed my CCMA program: Advanced eClinical Training (ACT).

THERE IS NO EXTERNSHIP PROGRAM WITH ACT.

After several weeks and multiple back-and-forth emails, I finally received this response:

"Thank you for submitting your externship request. We want to give you a clear update about externships in Florida.

Recent regulatory changes require ACT to adjust how externships are offered across states. ACT is not currently approved to place students or contract with externship sites in [State]. That means we can't arrange your placement. We know this is different from what you expected when you enrolled, and we're sorry for the disruption.

You can still pursue a student-initiated externship:

You can find and arrange a clinical site on your own.

You can use Externi to organize your search and keep track of your documents.

The attached resource guide explains how to search for sites and what facilities usually ask for.

ACT does not place, supervise, or evaluate student-initiated externships, and we can't sign agreements with the site. Any agreement is made directly between you and the facility.

Your coursework is not affected. If you have questions, reply to this email or call us at 617-336-6104"

The school has several 2024 articles outlining its externship program, which obviously haven't been updated in over two years. The "resource guide" attached to the email links to the aforementioned outdated, redundant, and unhelpful articles, and deleted files/URLs that no longer exist.

I'm sharing this as a warning to anyone considering earning credentials through this online program. In my opinion, the program was poorly constructed with AI and was not useful for practical training or preparing students to work in a clinical setting. NHA offers study guides and practice tests that reuse questions from its certification exams, but the resource that helped me pass on my first try was SmarterMA - which cost a fraction of what I paid for this program, which cost thousands of dollars.

I'm about to respond to ACT, but I'm not sure whether it's worth doing or could get me into legal trouble. I've included my draft response below to hear what you think, since I received a lot of competent and helpful input on my last post.

My (anger-fueled and hastily written) response:

"ACT Externship Support,

Why did it take me multiple emails to get a clarifying response about externships, only to learn that the externship placement offer was completely false? Your team did not even have the decency to specify in your automated response which state your "school" is not approved to place students in. The attached Externship Steps Handout doesn't exist. To say this is extremely unprofessional would be an understatement.

You charge students thousands of dollars on the premise of false advertising. This process has been frustrating and likely infringes on the rights of students trying to actually get jobs with their credentials.

Thank you"

I'm posting this as a WARNING to all those trying to find REAL feedback about Advanced eClinical Training before you pay thousands of dollars for their programs. Also, I wanted to post my email back before I actually send it lol.

I accepted a job as a medical assistant at a new hospital. This was on September 28. My start date is November 2. I was told to come to employee health for titers and health screen. My background check is complete. I asked the recruiter has my health screen cleared. She said as employee health. Employee health said the recruiter can tell me. But they went ahead and told me it’s clear but the doctor has to sign off. The doctor hasn’t signed off yet. If health screen isn’t done I don’t get to start my job. They won’t hold it past 11/2. Then yesterday they said they need my college diploma. So I sent a copy now this morning they’re saying the need my high school diploma. It seems to be so many hoops. I fear if I show up the first day they’ll say I don’t have a job. My current job is horrible. A doctor and my manager tried to make me clean patient toilets an refused to call EVS . I feel trapped. I turned down a different job but now I regret it because this new job I feel is giving me the run around like they’re trying to rescind the offer.

I recently got hired to work at a large hospital under a 5 month temporary contract. I started october 12th. i was specifically hired to float between three different floors of the hospital as an MA. Today at work I made a mistake, but the response of the nurse in charge of the patient made me very uncomfortable and I am debating between going to hr or asking my boss to not place me on the floor that this person works on.

For context, I forgot to grab the height of a patient. This patient had their height done 3 weeks ago, but for the specific appointment the patient needed their height done again. To make it even more complicated, this patient was positive for a novel respiratory infection (meaning we have to isolate them). I had already had the patient set up in an isolation room when the nurse asked me to grab their height. From my training, whenever we have an isolation patient, we try to do their vitals, height, and weight inside their room. But on the floor I was working on, we have no way to bring the height scale to their room, so they would have to use the vitals space that everyone uses. I go to the room and ask the patient if they are willing to do height, they say no. I ask again about an hour later and explain to them and they still said no.

The patient's treatment finishes and then they leave (I did not know they left until I saw on the EMR system that they left). The nurse in charge of this patient then asks me if I remember the height. I tell him "the patient declined to get their height done and I asked twice." When I tell him this, he turns to the charge nurse and stares at her, starts to take angry, rapid deep breaths, and starts to bounce his leg. He then just says "I'll document that." but continues to bounce his leg and take deep breaths. When this happened, I just scurried away in awkwardness because I did not know if he was going to snap on me. When I walked away I heard him and the charge nurse start to whisper. Then, I hid away in the bathroom and had to stop myself from crying because of how uncomfortable it made me. Then I noticed that for the rest of the day, I began to intentionally avoid areas that he was in. He never really talks to me anyways, he has not even said hi to me once and I have seen him Monday-Friday for the past two weeks.

To try to understand the reaction this nurse had, I asked the charge nurse what happens when i miss the height of a patient like this and she said that ultimately the fix is to ask for their height during their next appointment. I asked if they get in trouble if height gets missed and she said no. So this specific nurse was just reacting like that to something that is an easy fix. I am not saying that I did not make a mistake, it is just that I would understand his reaction if it was like he had to speak to the director of nursing about this mistake or submit an incident report, but he did not/does not have to.

For context on the nurse in charge of this patient, all the MAs have told me something along the lines of: "I am kind of scared of him.", "He is a diva.", "He is very particular about his work.", "I have worked here for a year and he has never greeted me." Some MAs even told me that they hate being assigned to the floor I was on because the nurses are meaner there than the other floors.

Ultimately, I realized that I would be extremely uncomfortable working around him. The way I describe it might not sound "scary', but it is a reaction that I have never received while working as an MA. I have made mistakes and other nurses have corrected me, but only this nurse has sat there fuming. It almost made me think that he was going to become violent. When I recounted this story to family members, they all had the same response of "Why is he fuming like he has to hold himself back from doing something?"

At some point, I realized that it was not okay for me to intentionally hide myself away from this nurse and it was not okay for the nurse to have a reaction like this, regardless if I made a mistake. Other experiences within the two weeks of me working here has made me not want to extend my 5 month contract, so I am looking for other jobs, but a reality I have to consider is extending my contract because I do not have a job lined up before the end of it.

If I have to extend my contract, I have to be able to be comfortable in my place of work. I do not want to be like the other MAs who have accepted his behavior and deal with him in fear. I am seeking advice on whether I should make a complaint to HR or tell my supervisor that I do not want to work on the floor that he works on. I could also try to let my supervisor know that the other MAs don't like working on this specific floor. The second option might be a bit more difficult because I was hired to work on that floor alongside the two other ones. If none of these options are the best, then how do I handle working with someone like that? Thanks for the help. ALL ADVICE IS NEEDED!!

Hi! I’m about to take my NHA CCMA exam but I’m a little nervous after doing some of the mock exams from nha and scoring lower than I had hoped. I also did my program all online through clinical skills institute so I’m scared I don’t know as much as someone who did their program in person. Can you guys pls give me ur honest tips and tricks on how you passed? and was it easier than you expected or harder??

I’m moving from WA state to TX and looking for recommendations on what the best DFW area non-profit healthcare organizations are to work for in terms of pay, work culture, benefits, etc. I’m pursing PSLF so want to stick to non-profit with just a few years left to qualify for that. The main orgs I’ve found online are AdventHealth, Methodist Health System, and Texas Health Resources. I’m aware it will of course be a significant pay cut from WA state, but only AdventHealth job listings post their pay range. Any insight is appreciated.

Hi! I have been thinking about doing a MA certificate, and researching certificate programs aside, I wanted to know if it was still a good idea to pursue although I want to do nursing school. I know some do both at the same time and I have read other posts saying how some establishments are trying to not hire students because of their need for a flexible schedule. I was a medical scribe until I quit in July because AI made its way and there was no point of me staying otherwise. And I don't know of any place else that will accept without certifications or licenses.

Also which program did you guys complete your certification from? I have seen some reviews of programs using AI content and there were misinformation in one of the lower cost programs. I didn't want to waste money if I have to research information to see if it's correct.

Hey everyone, I’ve been looking for a medical assistant job that’s willing to train/hire with little to no experience. I’ve had my cert since 2025 but haven’t had any luck landing jobs. Anyone know of any or any advice ?

Good Morning. Just wondering what other local contracting companies are out there? I’m in the New America area, just kidding! It’s New Mexico! lol I am currently out of a job.

Share your experience and if you're happy pls thanks

THIS IS NOT A JOB OFFER-

This is a hypothetical situation:

Today I found a local (to my area) job offer for a Medical Assistant Supervisor.

The duties were pretty inclusive as you can imagine and included hiring/terminating MA’s, disciplining MA’s, annual reviews for them, management of the ancillary operations, audits, schedules, approving PTO, etc.

Requirement was to have MA-C and ideally they wanted 3+ years experience as an MA approx. obviously the more credence and experience somebody has it would help, but the minimum requirements were not bad.

Its pay range was about $36-$56.

Would you apply?

Title:

I've worked in healthcare education for over 25 years, and something that continues to surprise me is how much responsibility entry-level healthcare workers can have compared to what some positions pay.

Medical assistants are juggling patients, providers, documentation, and sometimes an entire office. Phlebotomists are expected to be accurate, efficient, and help patients who may be anxious or difficult sticks. These aren't jobs where mistakes don't matter. Yet I hear people questioning whether the pay matches the responsibility.

I'm curious to hear from people actually doing these jobs.

Do you feel fairly compensated for what you do?

And has your experience in healthcare been worth it financially, or are you already thinking about your next career move?

Hello! I became a CCMA through NHA back in April, and I’m currently trying to study up on topics just to refresh my memory. I wanted to ask CMAs who are actually in practice what their responsibilities are, and what learned topics are actually needed and used on duty! Please let me know anything related to the hiring process as well, as this would be my first job in healthcare.

am I the only one who is too nice to say no at work?? Whether it's to rooming patients, doing labs, giving shots, etc I can never say no. Part of me views it as helping with patient flow/patient care but I also feel like I'm being taken advantage of at times.

For example, today: my coworker had a patient arrive 5 minutes before her lunch break, she asked me to triage them and I said yes. When I get down to the triage space she is still in there on her computer. I didn't say anything but I was annoyed. The patient visit was a follow up which takes about 3-4 minutes of time for vitals, so she wouldn't have even been late for lunch... And even if she was late, she would still get her full lunch break.

This is one of many examples but this situation happens often. Does anyone else relate to this?? And how did you fix it in a professional way?

All of the quizlets and kahoots I found other reddit threads were removed and I would really like something to study and review over.

can anyone give me advice for medical assistant programs in the bay area, specifically closer to SF? i’m currently in my undergrad looking for a course that’ll fit with my schedule. i was considering the SFSU one but it conflicts with some of my classes and I prefer the hybrid over online.

i’ve been looking into some adult schools—my main interest being San Mateo Adult School, has anyone taken their MA course? Also interested in CALregional but heard mixed opinions on it. any info helps pls!!!

We have to find our own externship and I am looking for tips/tricks/advice on how you found yourself if you needed to do it yourself? Thank you

Hello, as tittle says. Looking for a full time medical assistant with some experience.
Please DM for details.

I’m taking my test on December 16, and my school provides us with a free practice test I’m studying the questions from there. Is that good enough for me to pass the exam or I need to study more than those questions? If you guys have any tips or advice that would be appreciated. I’m so scared and nervous I really want to pass.