It Matters

Past Program Chair - Was PC for almost 14

years
Have been with Ivy Tech for 20 years
5 additional years of teaching experience
prior to Ivy Tech in the field of Medical
Assisting
Am a CMA
Worked as a CMA
Passionate about Medical Assisting
Member of the Southeast ISMA Chapter

AAMA: American Association of Medical

Assistants
MAERB: The Medical Assisting Education
Review Board
CAAHEP: Commission on Accreditation of
Allied Health Education Programs
AMA: American Medical Association

Mission and Core Values AAMA Mission

The mission of the American Association of Medical Assistants is to
provide the medical assistant professional with education, certification,
credential acknowledgment, networking opportunities, scope-of-practice
protection, and advocacy for quality patient-centered health care.

CMA (AAMA) Core Values

Actively participate in the delivery of quality health care.

Promote patient safety and well-being.

Contribute to a positive health care experience for patients.

Demonstrate integrity and respect, and protect patient confidentiality.

Advocate the essential value of certification and continuing education.

Embrace change, growth, and learning.

Source: http://www.aama-ntl.org/about/mission.aspx

The MAERB, an autonomous unit within the Endowment,

evaluates medical assisting programs according to Standards
adopted by the American Association of Medical Assistants
(AAMA), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the
Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education
Programs (CAAHEP)

Complete program reviews, based on the

CAAHEP Standards and Guidelines for
Accreditation of Educational Programs in
Medical Assisting
Makes accreditation recommendations for the
status of accreditation of medical assisting
programs.
Source: http://maerb.org/

Is a nonprofit, allied health education organization whose

purpose is to accredit entry-level, allied health education
programs
CAAHEP is the largest programmatic accreditor in the
health sciences field. In collaboration with its Committees
on Accreditation, CAAHEP reviews and accredits over 2000
educational programs in twenty-three (23) health science
occupations.
CAAHEP is recognized by the Council for Higher Education
Accreditation (CHEA). CAAHEP is also member of the
Association of Specialized & Professional Accreditors
(ASPA).
Source: http://www.caahep.org/

Competency-Based Education:
Functional approach to education that emphasizes
skills and evaluates mastery of those skills according
to the learners actual performance

Examples

Medical assisting student completing an electronic

CMS form for submission without any errors
Medical assisting student performing vital signs within
2 mm/Hg of instructors simultaneous reading

Learning Domains
Tools used to construct educational experiences as
defined by cognitive, psychomotor and affective
learning domains
Examples
Cognitive: Describe circulation of body
Psychomotor: Take a blood pressure
Affective: Aware of patients anxiety of doctors (white
coat syndrome)

 Cognitive (Knowledge)
Knowledge Base
Content
Classroom Theory
Psychomotor (Skills)
Hands on applications
Required Competencies
Affective (Behavior)
Soft Skills
Behavior and Attitude
Required Competencies

 Five

Academic Subject Areas

Eleven Content Pathways
Cognitive, Psychomotor, and
Affective Objectives

10

Foundations for Clinical Practice

Applied Communications

Medical Business Practices

Medical Law and Ethics

Safety and Emergency Practices

11

I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.

Anatomy and Physiology

Applied Mathematics
Applied Microbiology/Infection Control
Concepts of Effective Communication
Administrative Functions
Basic Practice Finances
Managed Care/Insurance
Procedural and Diagnostic Coding
Legal Implications
Ethical Considerations
Protective Practices

12

 Under

each of the Eleven Content

Pathways there are competencies
(objectives) listed for each of the
following domains:
Cognitive
(Theory/Knowledge)
Psychomotor (Skills)
Affective (Behavior)

Please Note:

All areas must be

documented as
evaluated/assessed
If they are not, the program
will be cited
14

All of us elected to remain accredited.

Our curriculum does not really reflect the
AAMA standards and guidelines Learning
Domains & Pathways
We are given the curriculum, but we
continue to force what the AAMA requires
into our curriculum.
Knee-jerk reactions

We get the Standards & Guidelines.

It comes already put together.
We take it apart and try to reassemble in to Our puzzle.

It makes it hard for everyone- but especially new Program

Chairs
Until they adapt to the Ivy Tech Culture then they too will not
think it is unusual to take apart and force fit into our curriculum.
Its just the way we do it will continue to persist.
New PCs often wonder why we dont just follow the standards of
AAMA together, instead of having it spread out all over the place.

Revise the curriculum

Yes revise the curriculum
(I can hear all the groaning now)

It is not as hard as you might think we

make it harder than it needs to be.
Yes, I know that each campus has their own
issues.
Remember I have sat where you now sit.
Make sound decisions based on the AAMA.
What if.

Some of the leg-work has been completed.

Revised CORS
Taken directly from the standards
Learning Domains
Learning Pathways

ADD HLHS 105 back into the curriculum

It is one of the five Academic Subjects!

Includes two of the 11 learning pathways.
It is needed has a total of 41 competencies
Will keep all of the competencies together in this area.
Yes, is an HLHS course, but we also use HLHS 101.

Thank you for listening

Additional Sources :MAERB Presentation

Tempe AZ, 2- 2013