Care + Career

If you're wanting to start a healthcare career, it can be a challenge to figure out which path is right for you. If you've considered becoming a certified nursing assistant (CNA), patient care technician (CPCT/A) or a medical assistant (CCMA), a common misconception is that they are all the same thing.

They are not.

In fact, they are quite different. Everything from the training to the job tasks varies. In this post, we'll break down those differences to help you decide which choice is right for you.

Putting in the time, effort and resources to earn an NHA certification can say something about your character and your capabilities. But how do you let people (especially hiring managers) know about your hard work and meaningful achievement?

We put together some tips to help you talk about your certification — both on your resume and in an interview — to empower you to make the most of your NHA certification.

We’re pleased to announce the recipient of the Spring 2018 NHA Career Bridge Scholarship, Julie Pham, CPhT.

It's natural to feel a little nervous about a job interview. Nerves, however, can hurt your performance in an interview if you don't prepare. So NHA turned to the experts for advice on overcoming interview set-backs.

From getting to know the company to following up after an interview here is a guide to interview success from experienced healthcare hiring managers on ways to stand out (the right way) before, during, and after the interview.

There's a growing demand for frontline healthcare workers. To date, NHA has awarded over 750,000 certifications to allied health professionals. Empowering professionals through the power of certification is at the heart of our mission, and we regularly conduct industry research to ensure the content and exams we provide to current and future certification holders are relevant and keep up with trends.

Recently, we looked at the current state of the EKG technician profession — and what's to come in the future. During this research, we surveyed and interviewed working EKG technicians across the country. Here's a what we learned from them.

NHA recently hosted a roundtable discussion with allied health educators and one of the largest employers of medical assistants in the United States. We discovered opportunities to work more closely, share information and create a network to support allied health students becoming employed professionals faster — and with the right sets of skills.

Not only was it a great learning experience for everyone who attended, but there were some takeaways we wanted to make sure we passed on to our certification holders, candidates and educators across the country. Below are some themes we uncovered at our most recent employer-educator summit.

For April S. in New York, the decision to become a certified pharmacy technician was easy,

"I started my career in pharmacy ringing up prescriptions at a small retail pharmacy. Watching the impact the pharmacists and technicians had, I knew I had to become one myself! I studied and worked really hard and eventually became #NHACertified. I'm now right at the forefront of medical advances and I feel so honored to have such a pivotal role in patient care."

Do you have a dream like April's?

To become a certified pharmacy technician (CPhT), you'll need to sit for NHA's ExCPT exam. In this post, we'll share what you need to know about the exam — eligibility requirements, format, content and tools that can help ensure you are prepared come test day.

Are you using NHA's practice assessments to help you prepare for your exam?* They're more than just a practice test. All NHA practice assessments include a special feature called Focused Review®.

What's Focused Review®?

Every time you attempt a practice exam (you have 6 attempts at 3 versions of the practice assessments) a report is generated based on your performance on the practice exam. This report is called Focused Review® and it shows what topic areas covered in the practice test you may need to spend more time studying.

You worked hard, earned your certification and started your new career in healthcare. Congrats! Your dedication speaks volumes about your character.

But there's still room to grow. (There's always room to grow.) And if you want to level-up your career, the best person to consult is yourself. Yes, YOU!

“There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.” - Aldous Huxley

Taking time to reflect on your work performance — especially in regards to "soft skills" — can help you identify areas for improvement and give you a solid foundation for achieving your professional goals.

So, where do you start?

Feedback is a tricky thing.

Oftentimes, people don't give honest feedback because they're too "nice" and fear they'll hurt our feelings.

Or, they'll give us honest feedback but our natural response is to be defensive. (We have some tips for that here.)

But if you really want to level-up your healthcare career, you need honest, insightful feedback from the people you work with every day.