Clarksville, TN — Twelve staff members at Vanderbilt Clarksville Hospital have earned national medical assistant certifications at no cost to themselves or the hospital.
They are the first Clarksville group to complete Vanderbilt Health’s cohort training model, and all 12 passed the certification exam.
The training came through Vanderbilt Health’s Center for Programs in Allied Health (CPiAH) in partnership with Nashville State Community College. A rural workforce grant from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, awarded to Nashville State, covered the cost of coursework and clinical preparation.
The Clarksville cohort was its first from outside the Nashville area. The program has run 17 cohorts since 2022 and graduated 186 people, with 73% still employed at Vanderbilt Health — high retention for a role that traditionally sees turnover.
For the graduates, the certification formally recognizes work many were already doing. “It gave dedicated team members the opportunity to validate the skills they were already using every day,” said LaQuana (Q) Pollard, MBA, program director of the Medical Assistant Program. As nationally certified medical assistants, they can take on more responsibility, supporting doctors and nursing staff and helping manage patient flow.
