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what does CMA stand for, and what test does this organization give?

help???

Your Professional Title/Credentials: ma

Are You Still In School? yes

Are You Working? no

Re: what does CMA stand for, and what test does this organization give?

CMA stands for Certified Medical Assistant. To be able to test to become certified you must go to a CAAHEP or ABHES accredited school.

You can go here to see if your school or potential school is on the list of accredited schools or programs via these sites:

CAAHEP:
http://www.caahep.org/Find_An_Accredited_Program.aspx

ABHES:
http://www.abhes.org/areasofstudytemp.asp

Once you finish school you "sit" for the test and if you pass you are granted "Certified" status. Although certification is not required for some jobs. The majority of hospitals and some offices require certification to even apply for the job. Certification shows potential employers that you know the Medical Assitant position to a standard of care that is nationalized(meaning that all certified medical assistants passed the same tests, with minor differences).

Being certified also means that you are taking Continuing Education Credits yearly. Meaning that not only are you working as a medical assistant but you are also continuing to be educated on new and improved ways/standards to treat and care for patients. Continuing education is required by AAMA and for more information i suggest you go to thier website which is

AAMA:
http://www.aama-ntl.org/index.aspx

So the first step like i said is choosing the correct school or seeing if your school is accredited. If there are any other questions please post them here and I'll gladly answer them if I can, if not there are others who surely know the correct answers.

Are You Still In School? Yes

Are You Working? Yes, not in medical field