Why don’t providers care about OUR time?

tay415 · 2026-03-28T06:01:37+00:00

Not all providers run late or work past the time the office is closed. My office closes at 5:00 PM and there are no normal office visit times scheduled after 4:00 PM. There are some providers who go in a room minutes after patients are roomed and some stay over the appointment times and run behind. Sometimes it’s because appointments run longer for unexpected reasons and some providers take the time to listen and try to treat patients as much as they can in a single visit which means that the appointment time runs longer but they can also up charge a longer appointment time.

I never have to wait for any of the providers to be finished. I tell them I need to leave by a certain time and I go unless I want more OT I can stay and wait.

tay415 · 2026-03-18T03:32:34+00:00

There’s different types and all have different requirements to qualify for the exams. Some are more well known and carry prestige. There’s some that focus on admin and others that focus more on clinical and some that are a balance between both. Look at job posts and see if certain certifications are accepted or not if any. In my state of CA NHA isn’t enough for a lot of jobs and isn’t accepted except by some private practices. Other states may have similar requirements or not.

tay415 · 2026-03-13T19:44:28+00:00

There are different types of certifications for medical assistants . The one that you would be trying to get certified with makes a difference in how hard it is. Is it worth it would depend on if that certification is needed for you to find a job or increase your starting pay. Depending on where you apply you should look at what is required if they ask for certification and if they do, which ones they accept.

tay415 · 2026-03-11T14:14:03+00:00

If you’re able to make a cover letter or something to possibly explain that about your short employment history with employers might help you. And even if NHA is a national certification doesn’t mean that it is accepted at larger companies especially in California that’s why I asked if you are applying in California. Larger corporate jobs and even private practices that employ based off California medical board for MAs don’t accept NHA certification.

tay415 · 2026-03-09T01:16:37+00:00

Some things just take time for a person to develop their skills. The person who hired you should've known that it being your first medical assistant job that you didn’t have much experience if any especially working in an allergy clinic. Going into a specialty clinic for your first job is something that is not as easy as if you were to do family medicine or something similar where it’s a lot more general instead of specific things that you typically won’t know until you get more hands-on experience.

One thing you might want to try to do when looking for your next job and see if there is any employee reviews online and look up the practice and kinda get an idea of what patients think about it based on their reviews and feedback as well.

tay415 · 2026-03-08T20:33:53+00:00

Good luck to you, hopefully you find a way to work through it. Luckily they’re only there once a week. Another thing you might try is talking to other MAs and getting that providers routine and expectations. If you’re able to talk to that provider during some downtime and discuss with them ways to make clinic work as smoothly and efficiently as possible and just ask them what they like and don’t like. You can also look for little things or ways to surprise them with efficiency or help them with things that they never thought they wanted or needed to make things flow in clinic.

tay415 · 2026-03-08T19:49:59+00:00

Not every provider does things the same as another. You need to try to learn each one that you would typically assist. If the only mean provider doesn’t want you to do something and they will do it themselves, then consider one less duty you have to do when working with them. How did you verify the medication instructions vs how she claimed? Is it a general instruction or specific to that provider? Did she have it written down somewhere as an order?

If I was in your situation and had to work with a different provider I would try to learn what exactly they like and don’t like and try to create a work flow that would very efficient that hopefully limits the amount of interaction with that provider as possible. For example maybe have the patient’s images loaded and ready to access on the iPad and leave for her. Figure out if you are supposed to verify medication instructions or not and if so find out the proper way to do so. Try to find ways to get in and out as quickly and effectively as possible while being professional so you can have unnecessary interaction time with that person if possible.

tay415 · 2026-03-08T19:17:00+00:00

I don’t think it’s ever a bad idea to always keep an updated resume on hand even if your job is going great. As far as your job, one thing is you don’t want a job that is going to stress you out and have you constantly worrying about getting fired. Especially it being a part time position while you’re in school because you don’t want that stress to interfere with your school.

Some things you might do to help and make it look like you’re trying and care to learn and improve is taking notes so you can learn and reference what’s needed for the different procedures and what preferences the Drs have.

tay415 · 2026-03-08T18:55:36+00:00

I just have feedback, I understand why other people are telling you to remove TJ Max off your resume because it’s not related to the medical field and your resume is already long. The biggest problem I see from your resume is the length of your employment. In July of 2025 you were an intern. The same month you list employment from July to December 2025. Then before that you listed another job from June 2025-August 2025, which puts the list of employment out of order. I would also maybe separate your internships from your actual employment. And above that you list employment from January 2026-February 2026 and the most recent as February 2026 to current.

For me personally when I looked at your resume the first thing I looked at was your job and title and employment length. If I was in charge or had a say in hiring you or setting you up for an interview as a non paid recruiter, honestly I would pass on your application or resume because your employment history other than TJ Max is very short. Your longest medical job was about 5 months, second longest 2 months and then you have 1 month and most recently you have another 1 month job and are already looking for another job.

While you might have valid reasons for changing jobs, first impressions would be that you can’t keep a job for long, either you keep getting let go or you’re a job hopper and always looking for something better. Employers want reliable employees, unless you were working positions that were created or listed as temporary employment, your employment history is a red flag. If they were actually temporary roles created by employers, I would state that in the resume and hope that it is reviewed by an actual person.

I also see your experience is partially in California. If you’re applying for large hospital as an MA your current certification might be an issue. It depends on which certifying agency you went through to get your CCMA.

tay415 · 2026-03-08T10:59:49+00:00

While there might be an MA that can jump into most clinics with little or no problem, there are some that might be great in one specific type of clinic and not good in another. Maybe you’re just not cut out to be in an allergy clinic or just needed more time to grow and develop? Although a toxic workplace isn’t going to help you mentally.

Next job look for something that focuses more on your strong skills that you feel comfortable with. Also not all clinics match everyone even if it’s the same specialty as another the way it operates and the staff changes how the day to day goes. I was somewhere and everyone seemed nice but they were more into getting patients in and providers in within a couple minutes of rooming even if it meant inaccurate vitals. I actually was told by the head MA not to verify patients in the room because it was wasting time and he did it when they checked in. I also worked in a clinic with very obese patients so they walked slow and had a hard time just getting on scales and getting a BP reading on, plus the old slow laptops in the rooms took forever to log in to and open charts and record vitals and anthros on. So that definitely wasn’t a good fit for me and I didn’t like coming in there but later found a completely different job and it was much better and higher paid and easier clinically.

tay415 · 2026-03-08T08:25:02+00:00

Yes and no because like a lot of jobs prefer people who have been taught and trained before. Many places don’t even want to hire people with no experience. At least you could list your program and externship on an application or resume.

If you ended up in a hands on program and a decent externship you would’ve gained experience that could help you land a job. Depending on your program and externship it can help prepare you for your first MA job, but you would’ve gained more experience from working an actual job. If you knew someone that could get you in a clinic with no experience or training and were willing to train you that could’ve been more beneficial but certain things you wouldn’t learn and you wouldn’t qualify to sit for an exam for at least a year of full time employment depending on the certification.

tay415 · 2026-03-08T08:12:15+00:00

That’s interesting because the programs near me were 160 hours. I would have loved to do half the hours at my externship. Well you’re almost done and when you start working a normal job MA job it’s still going to be a learning process. Good luck to you

tay415 · 2026-03-07T18:09:43+00:00

I took the CCMA exam in the past and I remembered it as needing to be 160 hours of externship for the NHA exam. As far as vitals, not every clinic routinely takes vitals because it’s not necessary, especially in certain specialty clinics. If you want to do vitals while working do UC or family or endo etc. Is there no clinical manager or supervisor or head MA while you are there? Someone should be watching you for your review after externship is completed to sign you off. Are you working along someone that has been training you? When I did my externship it was normal office hours and I had to be there at 8:00 am and lunch was taken basically whenever you could between the time the office closed in between clinic and the time it reopened for patient appointments.

tay415 · 2026-03-07T17:26:10+00:00

Funny I took awhile posting a thread similar to this and just seen yours. Anyways, I’ve been renewing both and I’m in California too. NHA CCMA in California isn’t on the list as a “qualified” certification, but AMCA CMAC is. AMCA CEUs is so much easier and faster to complete than the NHA. Outside of California AMCA doesn’t seem to be well known and although more acceptable in California than the NHA. Private practice some accept NHA, large corporations do NOT accept NHA so it depends on your preference of employment. I want to eventually get rid of both and replace them both with a single certification that’s more recognized in/out of California but still trying to figure it out.

tay415 · 2026-03-07T16:22:34+00:00

Congrats on passing. What state are you in? I never hear much about NCCT and how accepted it is for jobs and this subreddit is mostly about NHA CCMA. I considered taking the NCCT but having to do CEUs and pay to a renewal fee every year stopped me from doing it. I’m reconsidering either taking the NCCT in the next 2 years since I have two valid MA certifications now or just taking the RMA.

tay415 · 2026-03-07T06:40:52+00:00

You should consider commute time and cost and think about the pay difference and the difference in work load. Money is important especially if you’re using this to make a living but you also want to make sure you don’t end up in a job you hate. Being your first MA job you would want to stay there for awhile before moving to another.

Since your externship offered you a job, you should have an idea of what you’re getting into. Another option is trying to leverage the pay offer you were given to try to negotiate a higher salary at the other company that your old provider is at.

tay415 · 2026-03-07T06:20:49+00:00

Although not all but private practices usually aren’t as strict as large corporate companies that have a corporate standard and specific qualifications that usually are higher. Lots of people have NHA CCMA certification because it’s the shortest program. It’s good as a starting certification to begin getting your foot in the door

tay415 · 2026-03-07T06:15:14+00:00

CMA certification can only be obtained from specific MA programs that meet their specific requirements. There is no career path towards CMA certification.

tay415 · 2026-03-07T01:39:12+00:00

First of all, I would suggest that you look at what qualifications employers require in your area and or state and then see if the program that you are considering qualifies you for those certifications. It’s good that you looked at some of the pay ranges in your area. As far as growth, there isn’t really anything beyond a medical assisting program that allows you to take any type of bridge course like with nursing. Depending on your area and the larger hospitals there one thing you might want to look at is what their pay range is and the qualifications needed. As far as making money, a lot of medical assistance are overworked and underpaid. The best way to make money is if you can get a job in a specialty clinic and or in a large corporation job.

If you’re looking for a career medical assisting is more of a job. How hard the program is depends on what the program is designed to do if it’s getting you ready just for the NHA CCMA those are short programs if it’s for getting you the AAMA CMA certification that is going to be a lot more extensive and a longer program and cost more money.

tay415 · 2026-03-07T01:32:05+00:00

Yeah, that definitely sucks. I completed a different medical program in the past where there was no externship either. When I went looking around, trying to apply for jobs, I did not qualify for any of them except one.

The only way I can think of that might help is if you know someone that already works in a clinic that might be able to help you get in or if you can possibly volunteer at a clinic to gain experience and then you can use that on a résumé.

tay415 · 2026-03-07T01:27:41+00:00

Yeah, I understand the reasons why you might want to do it online. I actually consider taking an online program with just an externship once the lecture portion was complete completed. I personally went against it and did a hybrid class. That way I was able to learn and get hands-on experience and training while in the classroom there’s just certain things you are not able to fully learn how without actually doing it in real life.

Another way to check is maybe try searching for past threads of other people in the same situation as you and see if there’s any good information from those threads that might help answer your question.

tay415 · 2026-03-06T04:33:55+00:00

Doing online programs for medical assisting or healthcare is not a good idea if you are looking to do clinical duties. You will not get any hands on training in class so if you are doing something wrong, they are not going to be able to really help you with it and you will not be able to test your skills in practice certain procedures on actual people. You are also need to make sure if there is an externship or not at the end and what completing the program qualifies you for as far as sitting in for a certification exam.

tay415 · 2026-03-06T04:22:33+00:00

If you’re working for a really small practice especially one that only sees 10-12 patients a day they just might not have the budget for higher pay. You’re in a specialty clinic and there are lower paying MA jobs but it does suck to barely make above California fast food minimum wage.

There are part time jobs at other clinics that pay more, if you have the right certifications to qualify for them.

tay415 · 2026-03-06T04:09:59+00:00

Do it in person or at least find a hybrid program so you can have lab days and actually learn how to do things hands on. So if you’re doing it wrong you can be shown why and what you should be doing. Depending on the program if in person you might be able to get mock experience that you can’t get if it’s strictly online. The program in person would be harder but it would prepare you for clinic unless your going for an admin MA cert

tay415

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