Hey guys! I’m in kind of a tough situation. I’m getting tested for my clinical site placement, but even after thirty days of not smoking I am still testing positive. The deadline for my test is coming up really soon, and I’m not really sure what to do about it since I’m still testing positive even after quitting for thirty+ days. Should I just share with my program director that unfortunately due to me being a heavy smoker I’m still testing positive. Maybe I can suggest we do a blood or saliva test to prove that it’s not in my system? Or should I use quick fix or someone else’s pee? Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks guys.

Anyone use this to study for the CCMA exam?

Hello, I was hoping to get some feedback here. I have been out of the field 19 years now. I have always had my hand in the medical side while tending to me ailing parents, that kept my skills sharp. Not only that, but I am considering sitting for my CCMA with the NHA and wanted to know if the iprep refresher course would be better to get me current with the content before taking the exam. I know a lot has changed in the field since I was away, and I want to make sure that I am completely up-to-date with everything. Thanks.

Hi everyone, I want to share my story in the hope that there will be people who were in a similar situation, or at least in at least slightly similar and can give me advice or tell me their story about what happened to them. I have been suffering for five months now from something I don't understand, doctors say they can't understand what it is, on the CT scan, it wasn't visible, on the ultrasound they saw something, but they couldn't understand what it is. I'm very scared. It started in June, when I found a small mass on my right side below my rib, it didn't bother me at all before, but now I feel it even when I breathe and sometimes it hurts, it seems to be somewhere on the rib, or maybe above the rib but separate from it. Ever since I found it in me, I've been sick, I've had an unreasonable temperature of 37-37.4, which would go down in the evening, and it's been like that for months, I didn't even pay attention to it at first, and then when the first clinic couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, I panicked. It hurts more and more often, now even when I breathe I feel like something is moving in there, I feel like that very often.... And I don't know why I'm only noticing it now, there's a pink spot on my skin next to that lump under my rib. And in general I noticed that my skin in two places covered with some yellow spots and dried up, and one of them became bigger, and also I was scared by the fact that I have one mole on my stomach became bigger and changed color to a darker one, I'm trying not to panic, I thought it was a sign of skin cancer, I'm scared, I don't know what to do.

Hey y’all! I (22F) have been a practicing medical assistant since I was 16. I worked after school and during breaks until I went out of state for college and only worked over college breaks and now have tons of work experience. I moved to a different state and as I’m applying for jobs I keep seeing places ask for one of the following as my qualifications: • CCMA Certification • RMA • NRCMA • NCMA

I’m honestly curious which one I should get since so many of these sound the same. I also don’t want to shell out a ton of money just for a certificate if I don’t need to. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I work part time at this clinic where weekdays they do follow ups and weekends they do procedure. The difference between the weekends and weekdays is so severe that I basically reteach myself shit from the beginning. Since I work Tuesdays and Saturdays, I've basically had like 4 total days of follow up. I'm not sure if this still makes me qualify as a new MA but I keep making the same mistakes that people who started a week after me aren't. I'm slow at inputting patient charts and the doctor will give me an assignment where I have to call 25 patients to confirm appointments while I also have to check in and take vitals and translate. I think I've made mistakes scanning because when my coworker went on break and the doctor came in to give us papers to scan, I told him the coworker wasn't here and he literally grimaced so hard like bro just tell me what I didn't scan right. My worst offense was not scanning a new patient info sheet and then someone losing it the next day, meaning the patient has to come in and fill it out again. The doctor even said something along the lines of "with this level of work we shouldn't have to give a paycheck but since we promised we will." Mind you, they pay biweekly and I finally grew the balls to ask when we would get paid on my fourth week 😭😭 so that was a huge wake up call. Another thing is that I was scheduled to come in next Monday too along with my coworker but the doctor told me to not come in on Saturday anymore which basically tells me that they want me coming in less (to keep them from losing papers probably). I just feel so frustrated cuz I can tell these doctors are passionate and I don't want to keep making mistakes but how can I improve if I only come in two days a week??? How did y'all get faster at typing in numbers 😭😭

What did you use to study for the CCMA exam? I completed my externship hours of 160 back in August 2024, and I still haven't taken the exam, not even started studying for it. I am also holding back applying to jobs because I have absolutely no confidence and i don't know how i feel about working as an MA which is crazy to me at the same time because I have wanted to become one ever since middle school and I finished the program this year. I really need advice if anyone has any. Despite the fact that I completed my program and all those externship hours I still don't know how I feel about things. I also have no interest in studying for the exam and im putting it aside but I also don't want to forget things. So I would like tips on studying. I also don't know why I feel this way. I don't know if my externship was the cause of me regretting my choice of doing MA school. I went through 2 years of hard work, study, and money spent, it's such a shame that I am thinking of throwing all this aside. I also lay in bed and think at night and start having nightmares because I feel like I lost every single skill and I'll probably be even worse when I end up applying to a job and getting into the real world. I want to work as an MA to get clinical hours in because I am planning to go into PA school, but I'm currently very very lost. I need advice! :(

I’m about 4-5 months in as a medical assistant and i feel like I’m messing up like every other week. I have 6 months from hire date to see if they’ll keep me but I keep on causing mistakes that is causing a hassle for everyone else. I feel like I’m a dumb person in general but all these mistakes just confirms how dumb I am 🫡 I wanna stay here. I come to work everyday with the mindset of “I can’t f— up today” and try so hard to Paul’s attention to what I’m doing yet still find ways to mess up. Like I swear, you’d think I’m trying to mess up on purpose or something. Don’t want them to let me go but think it’s destined 😪

I am a full-time college student looking to pick up a MA certification that I can use for the summer and time in between grad school. Preppy looks like the best program for me at this point. I haven't seen many reviews on it and was wondering if anyone has experience with the program and what the externship was like. Thank you!

What is the dress code policy where you work? Including hair, nails, piercings, tattoos, scrubs, etc.

One of the MA's is leaving at my job and my manage wants me to challenge the exam and take the position. I have 3 years experience on an ICU, 6 months in a clinic (so far) and up to date with A&P 1&2 (within a year). How long would you recommend studying for the exam? Thank you! :)

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i'm going for an interview at a pediatric office tomorrow and don't know what to wear

We normally are a very high volume clinic but today we have 80 pts scheduled. Idk why I'm nervous, I have done this before but it exhausts sme mentally and physically. What are some mantras you say or something you do to keep yourself going?

I’ve been an MA for several years now and I want to do something else. I was just wondering what other jobs I can land? Administration but not a front desk position. I would like some sort of desk job. Thanks in advance for the feedback, I hope! Stay awesome!

I love my clinic and my job and patients so much but for the amount of roles I do front desk back office rooming and authorizations I feel like I don’t get paid enough for everything I do for the company I’m super comfortable there but I live in the Bay Area with rent being almost 4k a month for my house not including utilities the job isn’t enough for basic living :( it hurts me to have to find a place that pays more I’m just venting after a long day

I just need somewhere to put this. This isn’t about a registering or certificate. I use to work at an urgent care(I was there for three years), but I was getting burnt out. So I interviewed at an oncology clinic got the job and I’ve been there for 4 months. This job started off great. It felt like a relief at first. I HATE IT THERE. We literally chart and do vitals. I feel like we do scut work. I feel like I’m losing a lot of my skills. On top of that we have this HORRIBLE coworker. She sends emails and nitpicks everything little thing. She’s apparently been doing it to multiple people for years, but now the targets on my back. The bad part is that it was great at first. She was so friendly and everyone got along. And now every time I leave work I just want to cry lol. I just feel like I made a huge mistake switching jobs.

I understand a lot of people are not recommending US Career Institute/online classes in general for programs such as MA but due to personal and financial reasons, this is all I could afford for now. I do plan on going to community college in the future once I can finally afford it.

I would just like to ask, did anyone accomplish an MA certificate with US Career Institute, took the NHA exam and got a job with it despite not having externship? Especially around South Florida area?

I’m back again to vent, are we surprised?! This issue isn’t that serious to me but it still annoyed me because this isn’t the first time this was mentioned to me.

So I work part time at my clinic and I’m only here for 5.5 hours(minus a 30 minute lunch break) and my coworkers have made comments about this multiple times. Just small things like “oh OP is only ever here for 20 minutes” or just mentioning how my shifts aren’t long. Today was a particularly busy day for our clinic and when I came in two of my coworkers were “joking” about how I never see them “hussle” and how I’m never here for the busy hours in the morning and how they “didn’t like that”. They were laughing and were obviously joking but it just annoyed me by how much they were dragging it and how this also wasn’t the first time they mentioned this.

Sorry I got the hours that I have! I have two jobs and will be starting school soon so my hours are my hours for a reason. It’s just giving they’re salty because they work full time and they think my job is “easier” because I come in later. Even though I come in later I’m also the last to leave, so I’m by myself after they all leave. They also do not know my personal life as I like to keep those things private at work so for them to have such an “issue” with my hours bothers me because they do not know what I go through outside of work and why my hours are the way they are.

Can medical assistant inject and read the TB skin test?

BTW it is on my neck in the front

Is anyone looking to sell or share access to a smarter MA account?

Hi, just wanna ask. Anyone here got visa sponsorship by the work provider? Thank you!

I take my NHA CCMA test on Friday. I’m stressing how hard is the test really any tips and tricks?

I graduated in May 2024. Today is October 29. I applied for internships, apprenticeship, jobs, paid internships, unpaid internships. Nothing is working out for me. But I definetly need to refine my skills in programming but its gonna take some time. I havent worked for since December of 2022 and want to go back so I can reassess my options and keep studying my programing in my free time. I want to get recertified again and Im hoping to do that asap since Im running out of time. Please, anyone care to share their smartMA account so I can study? I need it for like a few days. Would really appreciate the help.

I realize every office is different, but the policy put in place by our doctor is to review every medication on a patient's list for every appointment. We use Epic, which connects many other offices and hospitals, but often times the lists are inaccurate and unreliable, which is why we review every medication individually.

Every single day, we have patients getting annoyed that we do this. The standard answer is, "Epic connects to the hospital, it should all be in there" , "nothing's changed, it should already be in there", "you guys should know this already".....etc. And about 90% of the time, it is NOT accurate, lol.

I don't think this will really ever change, but it baffles me that patients don't see a need to keep track of their own medications, and are increasingly relying on technology and other facilities to do it.

I usually just respond that this is our office policy, and often times the systems are not completely accurate. I always encourage patients to keep an updated list on their own, but it's incredibly annoying!!

Hey guys, I have one week left of my medical assisting program and I’m so nervous for externship 😟 I wanted to do my externship at an orthopedic clinic but they can only find a chiropractic office near me , do you guys recommend any other speciality? I want to go into radiology in the future. Also any advice to calm my nerves down for externship would be appreciated lol

Hello everyone!

The TLDR is that I'm legally blind (diagnosed w/ glaucoma at 25 and already was half blind), been unemployed for a year. Over the last couple months I've been using my network to try and find work. One option that's been floated is admin work in healthcare, but I'm not so sure.

My first job out of college was in an admin-type of role as a supply chain assistant, purchasing and inventory for a hospitality company pretty much. My manager at that company was very hands-off and left me to my own devices, functionally creating my own systems to make the job work.

My last job was admin in the public sector and was way too stressful, we were supporting an organization of over 100 with a very lean team. My new manager was a complete 180. I thought the job would involve more inventory/supply work and help get my feet wet into HR, the job in reality involved a lot of emergency management work.. which as someone losing their vision did not feel that most ideal use of my skills. I'd constantly be awake at 2am unable to sleep. I felt under-supported and unable to gain the knowledge necessary, because as my coworkers said the boss never delegated the same thing twice.

The idea of working in admin, in and of itself, doesn't worry me. What worries me is being unable to get the systems in place to properly deal with situations and know how to react. I think I could do well in billing or scheduling or supply work, something where there are already procedures in place. Are these roles generally considered "admin" in the healthcare world?

I’m a CMA based out of Des Moines and am in the early stages of planning a move to Nashville. No particular reason behind the move other than being 31, single, and in need of new scenery. At my current position, I know I make on the high end of the pay scale ($23/hr) and I’m trying to get a feel for salaries in the Nashville area without relying on the aggregate data on indeed, Glassdoor, etc. With moving somewhere that has a higher cost of living, I can’t afford a pay cut.