NHA Medical Assistant (CCMA) Practice Test

Sample practice questions

A few real questions from this free bank, with full explanations. Use the practice tool above for the whole set.

1. 1. Patient Care

   A medical assistant takes an adult patient's oral temperature and gets a reading of 98.8°F. How should this result be interpreted?

   • a.Within the normal adult oral range of about 97.6°F to 99.6°F
   • b.Below the normal range; recheck rectally
   • c.Invalid, because oral temperature is never used on adults
   • d.A low-grade fever that must be reported immediately

   Answer: a

   Explanation: The accepted normal adult oral temperature range is roughly 97.6°F to 99.6°F, with 98.6°F as the traditional average, so 98.8°F is normal. It is neither below range nor a fever, so recheck and immediate reporting are unnecessary. Oral temperature is a standard, acceptable route for alert adults who can hold the probe under the tongue.

2. 2. Clinical Procedures

   A medical assistant administers a tuberculin skin test on the inner forearm. Which finding indicates correct intradermal technique?

   • a.A soft, spongy area develops deep under the skin
   • b.No visible change appears at the site
   • c.A small pale wheal about 6 to 10 mm forms just under the skin surface
   • d.The site bleeds freely after the needle is withdrawn

   Answer: c

   Explanation: A correctly placed intradermal injection of 0.1 mL raises a pale, taut wheal, confirming the fluid stayed within the dermis. Absence of a wheal or a deep, spongy pocket suggests the dose went subcutaneously and the test must be repeated at another site. Free bleeding indicates the needle went too deep or nicked a vessel.

3. 3. Infection Control & Safety

   How should used needles and lancets be handled in the clinic?

   • a.Break the needle off the syringe and discard both in regular trash
   • b.Store them in a cardboard box until enough accumulate for pickup
   • c.Recap them with two hands and place them in a red bag
   • d.Place them uncapped, immediately after use, into a labeled puncture-resistant sharps container, replacing the container before it is overfilled

   Answer: d

   Explanation: Contaminated sharps go directly into a closable, puncture-resistant, leakproof sharps container labeled with the biohazard symbol, and containers are replaced routinely rather than overfilled. Two-handed recapping is prohibited because it is a leading cause of needlesticks. Breaking or bending needles and using ordinary trash or cardboard creates a serious puncture and exposure hazard.

   Source: OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard (29 CFR 1910.1030)

4. 4. Administrative & Legal

   Which code set is used to report the diagnosis or reason for a patient's visit?

   • a.HCPCS Level II codes
   • b.ICD-10-CM codes
   • c.NDC codes
   • d.CPT codes

   Answer: b

   Explanation: ICD-10-CM codes describe diagnoses and the reason for the encounter, which supports medical necessity on a claim. CPT codes report the procedures and services performed, and HCPCS Level II covers supplies, equipment, and certain drugs. NDC codes identify specific drug products by manufacturer and package.

5. 5. Patient Care

   A provider asks for the patient to be placed in semi-Fowler's position. What does the medical assistant do?

   • a.Lower the head of the table below the level of the feet by about thirty degrees
   • b.Lay the patient completely flat on the back with a pillow removed from under the head
   • c.Turn the patient onto the left side with the right knee drawn up toward the chest
   • d.Raise the head of the table to roughly thirty to forty-five degrees

   Answer: d

   Explanation: Fowler's positions are sitting positions defined by how far the head of the table is raised, with semi-Fowler's usually described as about thirty to forty-five degrees and high Fowler's as nearly upright. They ease breathing and are comfortable for examination of the head and chest. Lowering the head is Trendelenburg and side lying is Sims.

6. 6. Patient Care

   A patient is booked for a hearing screening with an audiometer. What should the medical assistant do before the test?

   • a.Explain the signal the patient must give and test in a quiet room away from equipment noise
   • b.Ask the patient to remove all clothing above the waist and put on an examination gown
   • c.Irrigate both ear canals with warm water so no wax can interfere with the tones being heard
   • d.Tell the patient to answer only for the louder tones so the results are not confused by guessing

   Answer: a

   Explanation: The patient needs to know how to signal that a tone was heard, and the room has to be quiet enough that ambient noise does not mask the quietest tones being tested. Irrigation is a separate ordered procedure and is not a routine preparation. Instructing a patient to ignore quiet tones would defeat the purpose of measuring the threshold.

7. 7. Clinical Procedures

   An electrocardiogram shows an inverted P wave and an inverted QRS complex in lead I. What should be checked first?

   • a.Whether the paper speed was left at fifty millimetres per second instead of the standard speed
   • b.Whether the patient was talking during the recording, which distorts the shape of the complexes across the whole tracing and inverts them in the limb leads
   • c.Whether the right and left arm electrodes have been placed on the wrong limbs
   • d.Whether the machine has been calibrated within the past twelve months

   Answer: c

   Explanation: Reversing the arm electrodes flips the polarity of lead I, and the result imitates a pathological tracing closely enough to prompt an unnecessary referral. Checking and repeating is quick. A wrong paper speed stretches the tracing without inverting it, talking produces movement artifact rather than inversion, and calibration does not invert a single lead.

8. 8. Administrative & Legal

   A provider asks the medical assistant to code a fifteen minute visit as a longer one because the patient was difficult. What should happen?

   • a.Code it as asked, since the provider decides what level of service was delivered at a visit
   • b.Code it as asked but add a note in the chart recording that the instruction came from the provider, which transfers the responsibility for the coding decision to the person who gave it
   • c.Code the visit at the higher level only for patients whose insurers rarely audit claims
   • d.Decline; billing a level of service that was not provided is fraud, and raise it internally

   Answer: d

   Explanation: Reporting a higher level of service than was delivered is upcoding, which is billing fraud whoever asks for it, and a note recording who instructed it does not make it lawful. The assistant codes what the documentation supports and raises the request through the practice's compliance route. Difficulty alone does not raise a service level; documented time and complexity do.

9. 9. Administrative & Legal

   What is the purpose of an encounter form, sometimes called a superbill?

   • a.To record the clinical findings and the plan agreed with the patient at the visit
   • b.To collect the patient's insurance details and demographic information at registration
   • c.To capture the diagnoses and services from one visit so the charge can be generated
   • d.To document that the patient received and understood the practice's privacy notice, which the practice must be able to demonstrate if it is ever asked to show that the notice was provided

   Answer: c

   Explanation: The encounter form links the visit to the codes that will be billed: the diagnoses that explain why the patient was seen and the procedures and services provided. Clinical detail belongs in the progress note, demographics are collected at registration and the privacy notice acknowledgement is a separate document.

10. 10. Infection Control & Safety

    A blood spill soaks into carpet in a waiting area. How does this differ from a spill on a hard floor?

    • a.Carpet cannot be disinfected the way a hard surface can, so specialist cleaning is needed
    • b.Carpet is safer because the fibres trap the blood and prevent anyone from contacting it
    • c.There is no difference, because the same disinfectant solution is poured onto both surfaces and left for the same contact time before the area is blotted dry and returned to normal use
    • d.Carpet requires only a stronger vacuum, since the material lifts out with the fibres

    Answer: a

    Explanation: A porous surface absorbs the spill, so the disinfectant cannot reach everything and the standard wipe and disinfect procedure does not apply: the area is contained, the visible material absorbed with protective equipment on, and specialist cleaning or replacement arranged. Vacuuming a blood spill aerosolises it and contaminates the machine.