MA's being used as "nurses"

Greetings!
I would suggest that you check with your Board of Nursing regarding supervising / delegating to UAPs. If the policy in your practice area is to call the medical assistant "nurse" or have him/her answer the phone when "nurse" is paged or if the doc is telling them to call the nursing homes with orders, then you must address that issue with your employer. (Frankly, the person taking a phone order ought to verify license)
If the MA is referring to him-/herself as "nurse", then I'd say a discussion was even more in order.
FYI, since 1999, only medical assistants who graduated from an accredited program are eligible to take the certification exam and call themselves "CMA" if they pass.
If you are hiring a medical assistant, be sure to check credentials if they say they graduated from a program, just as one would do for any new hire. They will have a certificate, diploma, or AAS degree from an accredited program.
Good luck.

Hello.
I'm not sure where you got the impression that medical assistants have the same education as nurses--they most definitely do not.
Typical programs last anywhere from 9-10 months (certificate) to 3 semesters (diploma) to 2 years (AAS).
Hope this helps.

I get such a kick out of you nurses. I have worked as a CNA for several years. I agree that a nurse requires special training. I do not know the type of training a MA receives. An Associates degree is considered minimum knowledge in most fields.To practice as an RN you only need an Associates degree and an LPN is a certificate program. This post mentioned that some MA's have Associate degrees,so they must know something about the medical field! I do realize that the nursing program is a demanding one, and a nurse is a nurse.I still wonder if your concerns are warranted.

Chili,

I've read several of your posts recently and have enjoyed the thought they provoke. But (and there always is one!), I think I see where some of your frustration with nurses arises. You seem to take offense when someone says you are not a nurse.

I am an RN. I completed a nursing program, and passed boards.

You are a CNA. You recently graduated from college (congrats!) with (I think) a BS in criminal justice.

To say that I am more important or more valuable as a person because I am a nurse and you are not is wrong. To say that I am a nurse and you are not is just stating fact. To say that I am not knowledgable in the area of criminal justice is not insulting me- it is just fact.

If I tried to fly the plane because hey, I'm educated too, just like the pilots, your concerns would be warranted. I have tons of college credit hours but they aren't in aviation. If someone with any amount of non-nursing training thinks they are safe to practice as a nurse because they are educated in something else, my concerns are warranted.

Your contributions at work should be valued and no one should look down on you personally for being a CNA. But to say that someone with a degree in CJ and a CNA certificate is not a nurse is not an insult.

Ratchit,
I can assure you I have no desire to be a nurse. I went to school to get out of the nursing field. I started working as a CENA right out of high school and I knew with in a year that nursing was not for me. In college I studied justice and crime. I learned that low wages contributed to crime involvement. I looked around at several cena's and found them to be on welfare and raising their families in poverty. My passion is not for nursing but for social and economic justice! Education is the only way I know to help others advance in our society. I want the nurse aids who want to be nurses to realize they can be nurses. The question that I asked regarding MA's and Nurses was just that a question. I want to also say that I have a lot of respect for the nurses out there. They are doing a job I would never want to do. Some of the NA's not all are coming from the underclass and my mission in life is to educate and empower the underclass in the name of crime prevention. On a seperate note the education debate between members in the nursing field is interesting to me because I never saw a difference between nurses regardless of education. An MA must be quite different I am sorry if I stepped on any toes.

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Nursing assistant

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Chili,
While it is not my lifes work, I also feel for the undereducated and wish there were higher standards for housing, nutrition, and education for all. I see the effects of lack of education and resources everyday. And these people need advocates.

But between the "you nurses crack me up" and (to paraphrase) "I thought nurses were supposed to value education, they look down on people who aren't educated" comments, I got the impression that you resented nurses who don't consider CNAs nurses.

I consider CNAs a valuable and very necessary part of the team- I introduce mine as "my right hand man." And I consult their opinion on things they do more often than I do. But I have had to do damage control when CNAs who felt they knew as much as I do told the family they were a nurse and gave wrong information. That is a nasty position to be in. I don't resent people who don't have the education- I do resent people who pretend to be knowledgable in areas they are not to get respect they haven't earned.

I also think that the point needs to be made that it's not only CNAs that are underpaid and underappreciated. I try to thank my CNAs every shift but I am not their boss and have no input into their compensation. I can say thanks but it's up to administration, not staff nurses, to show all healthcare workers how much we are valued.

Ratchit,
I do understand what you are saying. Nurses are in a great position to have a positive influence on their cna's. These workers look up to you and admire your knowlege and experience. I want nurses to build their cna's up.

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Nursing assistant

Nurses on this B/B want to work in forensics some are interested in the law. I have an education in both of the above but I do not say what are you thinking you are a nurse!

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Nursing assistant