Is it legal for a receptionist in the medical field to be promoted to an MA without any training or schooling. i have heard of 2 situations in Southern Indiana Clinics where 1 day a patient wnt to a Doctor they frequented regularly and when they went to check in with the triage nurse they were surprised to see the receptionist they had last week with MA on their name badge. In light conversation the "MA" stated she did not even have to get training for her promotion. Scary thought and offensive to those who know the sacrifice it takes to be an MA.

Are You Still In School? yes

Are You Working? yes

Is it legal? yes.

Traditionally, MAs were trained by the doctors they served to do specific jobs. It would be against the law to have CMA/RMA, nurse or doctor on your badge if you don't have the credentials to go with it.

Did you ever see the show "Becker," with Ted Danson? Linda was his MA, Margaret was his Nurse, though I think their duties were switched. Are you a troll?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0174378

Your Professional Title/Credentials: CMA (AAMA)

Are You Still In School? nope

Are You Working? yep

Yes, it is perfectly legal. Medical assistants can be trained right on the job. It probably was a good strategy to start this lady off at the front desk so that she can get to learn the daily grind, and learn to greet and process the patients in as they arrived for their appointment. At some point, once the doctor realized she is trustworthy, eager, and trainable, he must have taken her with him to the back office areas and showed her some of the things he wants her to do from then on in the clinical areas. She is well within her rights to call herself a medical assistant. However, Jefff is right, she cannot use the credentials CMA, RMA until she actually passed the exam. RMA will let her register for the certification exam once she has 5 years of continuous experience under her belt. However, due to the limited training specific to that job only I'd imagine it can be challenging. It would probably require some additional learning and training to have the medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, and pharmacology knowledge to take on the test.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: Website Owner/Forum Admin

i was a well am a cna 2 working as a er tech promoted without any exp as a med ssistant, they new that they promised me extensive training, i had three days, then was harassed by the other ma's due to me being a cna 2, so i asked for 6 months for proper training along with the dr i worked for hes great. but they terminated me after they said i had to take a math test 30 questions and had to get 100 percent, i missed 1 i think i never ever saw the paper work after the new manager took it is this legal for them to do after 6 months and no one else had to tke the math conversion test im not a lpn or cma im a cna2....

Your Professional Title/Credentials: cna 2

Are You Still In School? no

Are You Working? no/fired