Should I renew my Medical Assisting certification even though I'm an LVN?

[stephxbee, BSN, RN]

Hi all!

The title pretty much sums it up. I became certified in medical assisting back in 2010, and have kept it updated since. I've, also, worked as a medical assistant for a few years as well. However, I just received my LVN license, and my medical assisting certification expired last month.

Should I renew it, or just leave it expired?

I have it on my resume as well because it was a huge part of my working experience, should I still keep it listed in my certifications? Will it make my resume look more appealing if I'm still certified as a CMA? Or should I just delete it?

I really don't want to have to spend $77, and also do the CE courses, if it doesn't benefit me anymore.

Thanks!

[caliotter3]

This is a tough one. Make the decision based upon the thought of the possibility of ever needing it to get an MA job. You never know when the perfect office job might come along and they want that certification instead of the LVN license. You should not list it on your resume as a certification if it is not current, that would be an untruth. You might be able to save money by using the same CE for MA as you use for LVN, look at the courses closely when you do CE's. $77 is not really much in the grand scheme of things to be able to list it on your resume. You could be spending way more than that at Starbuck's or for some other guilty pleasure.

[moretonel]

In addition to being an LPN, I am nationally certified as an EMT-B. I took the EMT-B class in the time between graduating from LPN school and taking the NCLEX-PN (it was a 3 month class - yes, I waited 3 months to take the NCLEX). My thinking was that it was another option if it took a while to get that first LPN job - I could volunteer as EMT-B to keep up assessment, wound care and treatment skills.

I never worked as an EMT-B, but I still keep it active. You never know. As my mom always told me, "It's best to have and not need, than to need and not have".

I didn't list it on my resume when applied for LPN jobs, but I might in the future want to do disaster relief or emergency management roles.

[caliotter3]

Anything 'extra' in the healthcare field to list on your resume could come in helpful in the future, even if nothing more to show how invested you are in healthcare as a career.

[stephxbee, BSN, RN]

37 minutes ago, moretonel said:

In addition to being an LPN, I am nationally certified as an EMT-B. I took the EMT-B class in the time between graduating from LPN school and taking the NCLEX-PN (it was a 3 month class - yes, I waited 3 months to take the NCLEX). My thinking was that it was another option if it took a while to get that first LPN job - I could volunteer as EMT-B to keep up assessment, wound care and treatment skills.

I never worked as an EMT-B, but I still keep it active. You never know. As my mom always told me, "It's best to have and not need, than to need and not have".

I didn't list it on my resume when applied for LPN jobs, but I might in the future want to do disaster relief or emergency management roles.

Thanks for your input! My dad actually says the exact same thing that your mom does ? I feel EMT is definitelt a harder job than CMA (hopefully CMAs don’t get offended since I’m also one!) so I can see why you would keep that.

I did end up updating it though, just in case ?

[stephxbee, BSN, RN]

38 minutes ago, caliotter3 said:

Anything 'extra' in the healthcare field to list on your resume could come in helpful in the future, even if nothing more to show how invested you are in healthcare as a career.

This was one of the reasons I decided to just renew it because I do hope it shows my dedication to the healthcare field. Thanks for your comment!