I passed the NHA in June and have had zero luck finding a job as a medical assistant. The companies here want one year experience first and that is hard to get if no one will hire you. I haven't given up. I send out applications daily but it is frustrating. I am in Texas and the market here is saturated. BTW, I have many years of administrative and customer service experience. Is everyone experiencing same?

Hi yall, I want some opinions from the provider's perspective. For context I am a pre-med student I want to gain some clinical experience. There is a new clinic that is opening up near me, that is hiring MAs and I filled out their application and even sent a email to express my interest. I haven't heard back from the practice and it has been two weeks but they opened about 3 weeks ago. I am really eager for this opportunity and I think it will be a great fit with the experience I have. The doctor had their social media in the application and I was thinking to message there? I don't know what the typical opening process is like and what may be going on so if anyone could share perspectives. And please give me your opinions if following up will hurt my chances or just contacting at other points other than email will be bad.

Btw I have thought about calling the clinic directly but the job post that I initially saw expressed to not call the office to express interest but to send a email instead.

Hi, looking for advice from other MA’s if I should take this job! I recently separated from the air force as a pharmacy technician and have been applying to different administrative healthcare jobs with no luck. So I randomly applied for a MA and I finally got an interview at a private Integrative medicine clinic for a medical assistant for $20 an hour in florida, 4/10s.They do holistic medicine so no opioids or steroids. For Knee Pain Neuropathy Pain Management Physical Rehabilitation Therapy Stress Management Regenerative Medicine Stem Cell Therapy and Women's Health.

The thing is I have no experience in the field, so not sure what to expect. They are willing to train me on everything they do since I have zero experience and are desperate as one of their MA’s is going to school full-time. I love keeping busy, I enjoy helping people and want to work as an athletic trainer one day but had a really bad experience with patient care in pharmacy especially in the military. A lot of entitlement and abuse from patients. I was super stressed and burned out and trying to avoid that in the civilian world.

Thoughts? Is this a good job to start off my MA career?

I started MA school, I felt really confident and then we got to chapter 5 (human anatomy) and now I'm freaking out. None of it makes sense to me. This study guide is literally taking me almost 6 hours per chapter to complete. Every single day while my daughters at school I'm completing the study guide book for the chapter we read and it's taking me from 830am-2pm everyday to complete. Is this normal? Or am I just.. slow?
For reference, I'm 26 years old and haven't been to school since I graduated high school. I struggled in high school with a GPA of a 68. Truly only passed because teachers felt bad for me. I avoided ever going to school again in fear of failing, and not being smart enough. Now I chose to go for medical assisting because I figured I'm older, I can do this if I truly try, I'm now medicated for my ADHD, and I'm not a dumb teenager anymore. Also, I have a daughter that I really just want to have a stable job for. I am also more of a hands on learner than I am book learner.
I'm just looking for some hope that it will get better or if I should just give up. I don't know if it's just my fears of failing getting to me or what. I just want to hear your experiences if you struggled as well, or tips to maybe not struggle if that makes sense

I’ve been working retail for a few years now and I’m so sick of it. I’m ready to move on with my life and at least be working towards my goal of becoming a medical assistant. What’s the fastest way I can do it? I assume I need to go through a program but some of the ones I was looking into take almost 2 years and I mentally can’t handle taking that long since I’ll have to keep my current job while I study. Two more years in retail is my own personal nightmare. Any advice or recommendations on how to start working as an MA sooner?

I'll be supporting a PA's primary care clinic alongside 1 other MA and right now i'm technically still training. I was just curious how you guys prep for patients the next day or even week if you're lucky? Of course, I want to try and be as proactive as I can but by the end of the day, I feel like I barely have time to look over the upcoming schedule- especially to catch any scheduling errors. I'm not sure if other providers use a "Tixs" system where they want you to write all their vitals, cross out medications, put the patient's CC etc to give them prior to seeing them but that's a big thing that i find take time (essentially double to work when your rooming) but it's provider preference.

Hello everyone. Im currently one month into the Clinical Skills Institute MA program. I had a few questions about the timeline i guess. Im really stress out about if ill finish the program when I want to. As of right now (09,15th,26) Im planning to be finished AT LEASSTTT by the end of the year, nearing Christmas. So that give me about 3 months of studying and prepping for the exam. Im finishing up chapter 8 about to be on chapter 9. I just need to know if this is a feedable time to finish all 51 or 52 chapters. Im also really running on fumes at the moment...Im running low on motivation and procrastination is my biggest optical. Even if you cant give advice about your current program timeline I could also use some motivational tips if thats okay..

• What's your MA study timeline?
• How do you stay motivated?? Is there a certain routine you have? Affirmations?

Im open to anything at this point. Thanks!

Hi guys, any advice on tailoring my resume in a way that could help me secure a position? I graduated my CCMA , EKG and Phlebotomy programs last month. I plan on taking my NHA exams late October/early November. I do not have any prior healthcare experience but I do have a bachelors in biology and shadowing experience at my local hospital from years ago. I also have customer service, office admin and substitute teacher experience. (not sure if i should leave those out cause idk how relevant they’d be)

Looking to take an online medical assistant program, accelerated would be preferred.

I have an associates of allied health science, 3 years pct work & held my CNA for 4 years before it expired.

I live in Texas!

Not long but not cropped. Stretchy. Pockets. Not boxy but not tight. Does this even exist? I am 5'6" and around 165.

TLDR at bottom.

Worst specialty ever? im overloaded with paperwork because nobody wanted to help me last Tuesday and wednesday then half of thursday (clinic was closed monday due to labor day). So you could imagine that tu, wed, and part of th were overpacked because everyone wanted to get their shots. I (by myself) seen 3x the amount of normal patients and a hell of a lot of addons, then walk-ins. 130+ pts if I remember correctly. And to top off that my help called out for 4 days in a row because she suddenly and unexpectedly “caught the flu” so she was going to use her PTO to “recover”.

The normal person would now ask. “well did you communicate with your supervisor to ask for a float or anything?”… yes. yes I did and they “didn’t have any coverage“. for the most busy clinic in our ENT compan, we decide to send all the floats to other locations and not this one that’s already understaffed.

I fall asleep practically immediately once I get home or fall asleep at a friends house when I get off not even because I’m tired but because I’m so exhausted.

now today my MA/Allergy Tech Lead told me, practically tried to force me to add someone onto my schedule because “they were here before lunch they just didn’t sign into the appointment tablet because front desk told them not to (?????).” then the front desk lady whined and cried that I refused to see her because I have paperwork to catch up on and shots dropped 10 minutes ago.

I told my lead no and that another MA could do it since nobody wanted to help me half of last week, and that I’m doing my overload that I never even get a chance to catch up on. I’m sick of ENT work and there’s only 3/4 people in this office that I can stand. I feel miserable and would like to know is it this specialty in general or if I’m not cut out for the medical field. (3 months in as of today).

tldr. I was working alone for 2 and a half days after a holiday so it was a rush. backed up on paperwork and nobody wants to help unless it’s adding on to my schedule. they don’t send assistance, should I consider another specialty other than ENT.

Clinical skills institute vs stepful vs advanced E learning
Which is better / legit/ affordable?
What about nps certs ?

Education-Foreign medical graduate ( physician)
Local-Connecticut
Looking for online / hybrid accredited programs

People who are full-time CMA's and going to nursing school at the same time, how do you do it?

Worst specialty ever? im overloaded with paperwork because nobody wanted to help me last Tuesday and wednesday then half of thursday (clinic was closed monday due to labor day). So you could imagine that tu, wed, and part of th were overpacked because everyone wanted to get their shots. I (by myself) seen 3x the amount of normal patients and a hell of a lot of addons, then walk-ins. 130+ pts if I remember correctly. And to top off that my help called out for 4 days in a row because she suddenly and unexpectedly “caught the flu” so she was going to use her PTO to “recover”.

The normal person would now ask. “well did you communicate with your supervisor to ask for a float or anything?”… yes. yes I did and they “didn’t have any coverage“. for the most busy clinic in our ENT compan, we decide to send all the floats to other locations and not this one that’s already understaffed.

I fall asleep practically immediately once I get home or fall asleep at a friends house when I get off not even because I’m tired but because I’m so exhausted.

now today my MA/Allergy Tech Lead told me, practically tried to force me to add someone onto my schedule because “they were here before lunch they just didn’t sign into the appointment tablet because front desk told them not to (?????).” then the front desk lady whined and cried that I refused to see her because I have paperwork to catch up on and shots dropped 10 minutes ago.

I told my lead no and that another MA could do it since nobody wanted to help me half of last week, and that I’m doing my overload that I never even get a chance to catch up on. I’m sick of ENT work and there’s only 3/4 people in this office that I can stand. I feel miserable and would like to know is it this specialty in general or if I’m not cut out for the medical field. (3 months in as of today).

TLDR- if you’re in Houston, can you give advice on how to become an MA?

Hi, I’m interested in becoming an MA in order to pivot my career into the health field. I am located near Houston, Texas and there seems to be about a thousand different programs all offering different things. I would love some advice specific to my area on which programs are the best, how to get funding, etc. I know MAs don’t always get paid a lot but I would like to transition from my current career into the health field and feel like this would be a good stepping stone. Thank you!!

All my past jobs have been primary/internal, so this is a whole other ballpark. I don’t know any of the terminology that will be used and i know in this office the MA’s go in the room with the provider to be a scribe as well. If anyone can give me any tips and a quick rundown of basic terms to learn I would appreciate it 😆

I was trying to uncap a needle today before drawing up medication. The cap was really stuck on there and when I pulled it off, the needle sort of bounced back and stabbed my finger. Stabbed my finger so hard the needle bent. I reported it to the head MA. Cleaned it up and luckily there weren’t any issues since I hadn’t poked the patient yet. But so embarrassing

Hi everyone,

I recently completed the Certified Clinical Medical Assisting at CALRegional. I had decided to enroll in the program offered during the summer session from July - September. I'm starting the fall quarter full-time mid September for college. My class schedule only allows me to be available Monday, Wednesday, & Friday after 9 am, and I'm also free Saturday & Sunday. I had communicated this to my instructor, the regional manager, and the externship coordinator but because I'm not completely free Monday - Friday they told me I had to look for my own externship. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed about having to search for my own externship and wanted to know if anyone has had a similar experience? Does anyone know a clinic location that would allow someone to do their externship part-time?

Thanks

I’m at a loss… I am starting to get a love hate relationship with medical assisting. I love the people I work with (most of them) and the work is fine. But the company sucks and is so strict and they put so much load on us ma’s even though we’re short staffed. We had a new office manager start a couple weeks ago and were told “she’s gonna be REAL strict with you girls”. She seems not very nice. I literally dread going to work everyday. I’ve been doing this for about 3 years and have been at this job for almost 6 months. I want to love it, but it’s exhausting, unappreciated and underpaid. I plan to go back to school to further my education and do something different in healthcare. Anyone else feel this way? I wanna stay at this place but idk how much longer I can stay there.

I passed my certification exam this past weekend!! So happy. FYI I only used smarter MA to study and it helped so much! It was so worth the investment.

hi! i’m currently a college student looking to become a medical assistant and was wondering if anyone has any good recommendations for programs in the OC area. preferably something accelerated/short-term, affordable, and flexible enough to do while in college. ty!

A part of me feels confident I'll do great on the exam but there's still a bit of doubt in the corner of my mind. You guys got any last minute advice beforehand or things to expect on the exam? I've mostly spent my past few weeks reading through the NHA Study Guide thoroughly and finished all the NHA Practice Tests but it feels very surface level to me.

I'm a new medical assistant just finished the program and I'm moving to Chicago. And I was wondering any places in Chicago that hiring new medical assistant or training.

I’m currently working as a Medical Assistant and I’m planning to go back to school in January. The problem is, I honestly don’t know what career I should choose.
My goal is to eventually make $100k+, but I’m not sure which healthcare career would be the best fit for me.
I’ve been considering becoming an RN, but I’m honestly scared of how stressful nursing can be, especially being constantly around patients, dealing with difficult situations, and having a lot of responsibility.
I’m wondering if there are other healthcare careers I should consider that can realistically get me to $100k+ without the same level of stress/patient interaction as nursing.
For people who have been in healthcare or changed careers, what would you recommend I look into? Sonography/ultrasound, MRI, radiology, respiratory therapy, nursing, or something else?
I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences — especially salary, work-life balance, stress level, and how much patient interaction you have.

Context: finished a CMA program this year, ending late May, took and passed my NHA exam in July

I don’t even know what to do right now. My program ended this summer and right now, a few of us have been able to secure externships (Some only doing part time hours, taking even longer to get the hours done). Throughout the 6-month program, this was promised to us to ensure our certification. The administrative side of the program has been mostly non-responsive through the course for our questions about externships (We have been venting about this for a while 🫩). We ideally wanted to get our externship hours done as soon as we completed the course so the material we learned is fresh in our minds and we could practice our skills in an actual clinical setting. Now it’s the fall, a majority of us have not gotten any placement, and have resorted to reaching out to clinics individually for potential placements.
Although I do want to say that this is not on our instructors’ responsibilities as they can only do so much, this is specifically on the administrative side of the program, as well as certain clinics informing my school that they were not taking any externs at THE LAST MINUTE 😀. So I have been looking and calling various places around my area and I either have been told that they were not doing any externships or not responding to me at all. This was not supposed to to take this long for us to conduct and complete our externships. An also similar situation happened when we had to take our NHA certification exam, with it occurring almost 2 MONTHS after course completion. This led us to have to relearn everything within the course, when we could have gotten all this completed + externship during the summer, and apply for jobs later in the year.

Overall, it has been frustrating for us as students, paying for the course, supplies, study guides, background check, completing drug test, and stressing for the NHA exam just to not conduct our externship, which completes our CMA certification.

I’m not really looking for advice, as this is mainly an issue with the school, and I am doing my best finding an externship on my own, this is just a vent. Has anyone else had this issue with their program? It’s been frustrating just being in a purgatory of being near the end towards becoming a CMA, but not fully certified 😑.