As a health science curriculum developer, we work with thousands of teachers every year who need to prepare their students for industry certifications.
Many of these teachers are just getting started with their health science program and are deciding which certifications they should offer.
One of the most popular exams teachers consider is the NHA Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) certification.
On this page, you'll discover what the NHA CCMA exam is and what your students will need to know to help you decide if the CCMA certification is right for your program.
What Is the NHA CCMA Exam?
The NHA CCMA exam is an industry certification developed by the National Healthcareer Association (NHA) to measure a student’s knowledge and skills so they can become a certified clinical medical assistant.
When someone passes the exam, they earn a certification designating that they can work in a healthcare facility as a CCMA.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts employment opportunities for medical assistants will grow 16% through 2031. That means students are flocking towards this certification!
How Is the NHA CCMA Exam Structured?
The NHA CCMA exam is made up of 150 questions (plus 30 pre-test questions that are used to gather data).
The questions fall into seven topic areas, which the NHA refers to as “domains:”
- Foundational Knowledge and Basic Science (10%)
- Anatomy and Physiology (5%)
- Clinical Patient Care (56%)
- Patient Care Coordination and Education (8%)
- Administrative Assisting (8%)
- Communication and Customer Service (8%)
- Medical Law and Ethics (5%)
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Each domain has different subtopics that are categorized as either knowledge statements or task statements.
Knowledge statements refer to information and concepts that the student will need to know.
Task statements relate to physical duties that the student will need to know how to perform.
Domain 1 - Foundational Knowledge and Basic Science
The Foundational Knowledge and Basic Science domain includes 34 knowledge statements related to healthcare systems, medical terminology, basic pharmacology, and more.
The information in this domain is the bare minimum of what any clinical medical assistant will need to know for success as a healthcare professional.
Domain 2 - Anatomy and Physiology
The Anatomy and Physiology domain has eight knowledge statements related to body structures, organ systems, pathophysiology, disease processes, and microbiology.
Similar to the previous domain, the knowledge of anatomy and physiology can make or break someone’s success on the CCMA exam.
Domain 3 - Clinical Patient Care
The Clinical Patient Care domain is broken into five subsections, each with a varying number of knowledge and task statements.
The breakdown is as follows:
- Patient Intake and Vitals (16 knowledge statements, 7 task statements)
- General Patient Care (33 knowledge statements, 21 task statements)
- Infection Control and Safety (19 knowledge statements, 9 task statements)
- Point of Care Testing and Laboratory Procedures (11 knowledge statements, 9 task statements)
- Phlebotomy (25 knowledge statements, 15 task statements)
- EKG and Cardiovascular Testing (11 knowledge statements, 7 task statements)
This is the largest portion of the exam as it includes most of the day-to-day tasks a clinical medical assistant completes.
Domain 4 - Patient Care Coordination and Education
The Patient Care Coordination and Education domain has 12 knowledge statements and 10 task statements related to how a medical assistant will interact with patients and their families in different scenarios.
These involve tasks such as participating in transition care for patients and team-based patient care.
Domain 5 - Administrative Assisting
The Administrative Assisting domain includes 23 knowledge statements and 22 task statements related to patient scheduling, documentation, working with medical records, and other administrative tasks.
Even though many healthcare practices have medical administrative assistants, it’s common for clinical medical assistants to work closely with them.
Domain 6 - Communication and Customer Service
The Communication and Customer Service domain is made up of 21 knowledge statements and 13 task statements.
This domain includes statements related to the different ways a clinical medical assistant will communicate both with patients and other healthcare workers.
Domain 7 - Medical Law and Ethics
The Medical Law and Ethics domain has 9 knowledge statements and 7 task statements related to laws and ethics in the healthcare setting.
These include topics such as advanced directives, the Hippocratic Oath, patient privacy, and more.
In addition to these seven domains, the NHA has a list of “Core Knowledge and Skills.” These are the items that the NHA states as “fundamental skills and necessary knowledge for a medical assistant.”
This “core” information may be used in the context of different questions on the exam, so it’s important to review them as well.
Overall, the NHA’s CCMA test plan includes all of the details on what your students will need to know to pass the exam!
What Should Students Expect on Exam Day?
On test day, students have three hours to complete the exam and can occur either at your school or a designated testing center.
In most cases, students take the exam via an online portal, but on occasion a paper-based test is given.
After testing is complete, the NHA posts the results on the students’ online accounts within two days.
So now that you know the ins-and-outs of the CCMA exam, there’s one question left.
How do you prepare your students for the test?
How Do You Prepare Students for the NHA CCMA Exam?
There are a variety of options out there for preparing students for certification exams, but it can be tough to decide the best one for you and your students.
Many instructors lean towards using test prep materials to prepare their students.
The study guides and practice exams from NHA are excellent tools to measure student knowledge, but they don’t actually help you teach the content.
That’s why we recommend a two-step approach when it comes to preparing your students for the CCMA exam.
First, you need to teach the foundational healthcare concepts and medical assistant skills in your day to day lessons. Once your students know the information, it’s time to break out the test prep materials to help them review for exam day.
The key to success is to seamlessly tie these two strategies together.
But how can you do that?
Some teachers spend their summer creating their curriculum from scratch to provide customized lessons, activities, and assessment for their courses.
While this is a great option to plan your class from day one up until test day, it takes a lot of time -- and who has that!
That’s why health science instructors have begun switching to a system they can use to teach their classes and prepare their students for the exam!
Prepare Your Students for the NHA CCMA Exam with iCEV
Health science instructors across the country use iCEV's digital curriculum system to teach key concepts and prepare their students for the NHA CCMA exam.
iCEV is designed to empower you to help your students succeed in the classroom, on the exam, and in their future careers as clinical medical assistants.
This is made possible with thousands of ready-to-use instructional resources, classroom management tools, assessment options, student tracking features, and more.
Think this sounds like the right choice for you? Then sign up for a free trial of iCEV! You'll receive full access to the iCEV curriculum so you can decide if it's the best fit for your classroom.
