Any office nurses that have been MAs first?

[joyfullpn]

I work with several great MAs. Their jobs are very important and I am not knocking it, especially since I used to be one. But a few of them tell me that they have the same education as an LPN the only difference is they can't give injections. I try to correct them without trying to sound like a snob but the education is completely different. I don't think I had any of the same classes going for MA then LPN. I know it shouldn't bother me but I've worked so hard to be a nurse. I don't think a MA could pass the nursing state boards with a MA education. What are your opinions on the MA,LPN/RN education?

[T-Bird78]

They have similar but different education and MA's have less education than LPNs. Some facilities have definite lines between what the two can do, some have both doing the same task. Most MAs are as great as LPNs and have experience, but we do have more education than they do.

[newrnltc]

I was an MA for 9 years before I became an RN, BSN. As an MA I was very task oriented and familiar with the procedures my doc did (set up, assist, take down etc). That is all I knew. Patho, medications, medication interactions/adverse effects, comorbidity, care plans, etc.... lets not kid ourselves. I didn't know jack about that stuff! I think when it comes to the understanding of the pt as a whole, MAs scratch the surface and nursing is much more in depth. Sure as an office RN me and the MAs do the almost same tasks (yes besides injections). MAs can recite the teaching they'e heard me and the doc say a million times but they may not know when an offhand comment by a pt is actually important information (ie I have really dark stools) - is it the iron supps or a UGI bleed? What comments need further probing? Therefore, I always do my own assessments even though its an established pt. Heck, even if another nurse handed this pt off to me I'd do my own assessment. My very first boss/doc/mentor taught me this. I worked with him until he retired. You never know if a small piece of info changes the whole picture. I would have to say a nurse has a much better chance of picking up these nuances than an MA.

[sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN]

42 years ago I was a MA for six years while atrending college and nursing school.....the education was not the same :). MA was alk OJT, and of course my RN program was didactic and clinical formal program.

[sistasoul]

I find that in my job that the MAs and the nurses do essentially the same job. We do not really triage but gather facts and present the information to the physicians, NPs or PA's. There is really no assessment but more of a fact gathering. It is so boring. There is no listening to the lungs for crackles, feeling for pedal pulses, etc. I do not feel like a nurse at all anymore.