RMA common mistakes
RMA · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Drawing blood tubes in the wrong sequence - for example filling a lavender (EDTA) tube before a light-blue (citrate) tube, or forgetting to discard the first drop of a capillary specimen before touching it to the test strip.
Candidates memorize tube colours by the tests they run ("lavender = CBC") instead of memorizing the CLSI order of draw, so under time pressure they grab whichever tube the requisition mentions first.
What to do instead
Drill the order of draw as a fixed chain - blood culture, light blue, red/gold (serum), green (heparin), lavender (EDTA), grey (oxalate/fluoride) - and rehearse it with a rack of dummy tubes until it is automatic. Remember the reason: additive carry-over from one tube contaminates the next.
Taking a blood pressure immediately after the patient walks in, with the cuff over a sleeve, the arm unsupported below heart level, and the cuff deflated rapidly.
Candidates treat blood pressure as a quick mechanical task rather than a procedure with required conditions, and they copy whatever shortcuts they saw in a busy office.
What to do instead
Follow the fixed sequence every time: patient seated with back supported and feet flat, 5 minutes rest, correct cuff size on bare upper arm at heart level, inflate 20–30 mmHg above estimated systolic, deflate at 2–3 mmHg per second. Be able to state which error falsely raises versus lowers a reading.
Recapping a used needle with two hands, or giving an injection without allowing the antiseptic to dry on the site first.
Speed habits from clinical placements; candidates also underestimate how often needle-safety and site-prep steps appear as "first action" questions.
What to do instead
Adopt one-hand scoop recapping or immediate activation of the safety device and disposal in a sharps container - never two-handed recapping. For site prep, cleanse in a circular motion from the centre outward and let it air-dry before puncture.
Performing hand hygiene with gloves still on, or donning gloves without first cleaning hands, and using the same gloves across multiple patients.
Gloves feel like a substitute for hand hygiene because candidates picture PPE as a single category rather than a sequence.
What to do instead
Memorize hand hygiene as the bookend of every glove use: clean hands, don gloves, perform the task, remove gloves, clean hands again. Be able to explain that gloves reduce but do not eliminate contamination transfer.
Booking patients into the schedule without confirming insurance eligibility, referral requirements, or prior authorization for the ordered procedure, then discovering the problem on the day of the visit.
Candidates focus on filling open appointment slots and treat insurance verification as someone else's job, or as a step that happens after check-in.
What to do instead
Treat eligibility and prior-auth questions as part of scheduling, not registration. Learn which procedures in your setting typically need authorization, and practise a script for telling the patient what their plan requires before the appointment date.
Documenting a no-show or cancellation with no record of the notification attempt, or leaving an appointment as "scheduled" after the patient calls to cancel.
Candidates see scheduling as a calendar task separate from the medical record and do not realize the appointment record is a legal document used for billing and continuity.
What to do instead
Close the loop on every appointment: date and time of the call, who called, what was cancelled or rescheduled, and whether a fee policy was quoted. Treat the schedule entry and the chart note as one record.
Confusing directional and nervous-system terms - mixing up afferent versus efferent, proximal versus distal, or medial versus lateral - when answering anatomy items.
The words look and sound alike, and candidates learn them as definitions rather than as spatial pictures, so recognition collapses under exam pressure.
What to do instead
Anchor each pair to a concrete mental image: afferent arrives at the CNS (sensory), efferent exits (motor); proximal is nearer the point of attachment. Build paired flashcards with a simple body diagram for each and self-test both directions (term to meaning, meaning to term).
Misreading suffixes and combining forms - answering as if -ectomy, -otomy, -ostomy, and -pexy were interchangeable, or dropping the combining vowel rule.
Candidates memorize whole medical words instead of their component parts, so a one-letter change in a suffix silently changes the answer they pick.
What to do instead
Build a suffix table with one example each (appendectomy = removal, tracheotomy = incision, colostomy = creation of an opening, nephropexy = fixation) and practise splitting unfamiliar terms into prefix, root, and suffix before reading the answer choices.
Acting outside the medical assistant scope of practice - interpreting a test result for the patient, advising on a medication dose, or performing a procedure because "the office always does it that way."
Job habits vary widely between states and practices, so candidates generalize from one workplace instead of from the governing statute and the delegating provider's judgment.
What to do instead
Learn the state's MA scope rules and the principle that the MA performs tasks delegated by a licensed provider, and that patient teaching about results or dosages belongs to the provider. On exam items, choose the option that refers the question to the provider.
Releasing or discussing patient information - records to a family member, or detailed results on a voicemail - without a signed authorization or without following the patient's stated contact preferences.
Candidates confuse "the patient's family" or "the patient gave permission verbally" with a valid authorization, and they treat leaving a message as harmless.
What to do instead
Apply the rule mechanically: confirm a signed authorization naming the recipient and the information, apply the minimum-necessary standard, and follow the contact method documented in the chart. When a request is ambiguous, the correct exam answer is to verify authorization first, not to be helpful.