And I continue my rant of MAs pretending to be nurses..

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in oncology, trauma, home health.

Today I was at a patient's home and had to call the doctor. The answering service said "If you would like to speak to a nurse press 3" So I pressed three.

A girl came on, "This is Tina" and I said "Hi Tina I'm a nurse with so & so and your machine prompt says press three for a nurse. Are you a nurse"

Tina says "Yes. Well, an MA, same thing, go ahead"

Hmmm. What to do what to do?

May I also point out that the reason I am seeing this woman is for a major abdominal post op infection? When she came home from the hospital she developed a fever of 101 with redness and pus at the wound site. She called the service and the "nurse" told her to take an advil and come in for her scheduled appointment in a week.

This was the MA who I had spoken to. The doctor flipped when he saw the wound and she was immediately readmitted for iv abx and debridement. What is going on and who do I report her to?

Talk to the doctor she works for first and let him know the response she gave to his patient that resulted in a bad infection not getting proper attention. That could lead to a lawsuit and he won't take kindly to that. I'd then let him know nurse is a protected title and his MA shouldn't be telling people she is a nurse when she isn't. And last but not least report it to the BON.

Specializes in oncology, trauma, home health.
Talk to the doctor she works for first and let him know the response she gave to his patient that resulted in a bad infection not getting proper attention. That could lead to a lawsuit and he won't take kindly to that. I'd then let him know nurse is a protected title and his MA shouldn't be telling people she is a nurse when she isn't. And last but not least report it to the BON.

Thanks Batman,

The MD knows all of the above. I didn't even think about the BON. I shall do that tomorrow. First thing. Thanks.

Report her immediately! That should NOT be happening.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I love MAs and all they do (because I wasn't a fan of clinic nursing)... but please, don't falsely represent yourself to patients or other professionals. If you want to say "i'm a nurse" then go to school for it. I LOVED the MAs I worked with, but said something a time or two when one of them referred to herself as "the nurse".

I'm an MA and people often call me a nurse. I correct them before they even finish their questions. I get tachycardia when I hear MAs leting people address them as nurses.

I had a girl that I used to work with who never even finished her MA classes but liked to use the title. She'd even claim she couldn't do "this & that" because she'd lose her license. Finally, the office manager told her she needed to produce some credentials or quit using the title. She got canned two weeks ago and I took over her position as referrals coordinator while I'm in school.

Specializes in Pediatrics.

I work in a HUGE pediatric practice with MAs that I really like and they do a great job. The thing that gets me is that every time an RN quits they are replaced by one or two MAs. We are definitely being phased out of the practice. Our manager lets the MAs do just about everything including giving medications and injections. When the RNs have taken our concerns to management we are told to train the MAs to do the best job they can because that is the way it is going to be. It really gets to me.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

I think that the hiring of MA's as substitutes for licensed nurses is becoming epidemic. But the MA's are not always to blame for taking on the nursing role. Their direction is often coming from the MD who is choosing to pay an MA's salary over an LPN's or RN's. I have heard physicians direct others to "talk to my nurse," when the nurse is none other than the MA.

I work in an outpatient surgery setting. The pre-op surgical histories are provided by the surgeons' offices. More and more often, it is the MA performing the H&P (i.e., filling out the paperwork). Needless to say, same-day cancellations are becoming more common due to the fact that cardiac issues have been ignored or overlooked, meds that should have been discontinued in preparation for surgery are not, and numerous other medical issues have not been addressesed pre-operatively.

The doc's may be saving a few dollars on their personnel, but they're wasting way more dollars in lost revenue and lost time.

Thanks Batman,

The MD knows all of the above. I didn't even think about the BON. I shall do that tomorrow. First thing. Thanks.

Oversight of MAs (usually) comes from the Board of Medicine not the BoN.

Do you know it was actually her who instructioned to the patient to take Advil and wait for her next appt?

Our manager lets the MAs do just about everything including giving medications and injections.

Meds and injections are well within the MA scope of practice.

The manager really isn't allowing them to do anything, MAs work under the licensure of the Physicians in the practice, the manager is just carrying out their policies.

dont worry people, this was seen coming a long time ago. Nurses will replace primary care doctors which are only gonna go for specialize medicine, MA's will replace nurses and anyone will replace MA's. Its a cycle and its only the beginning.

i know what you mean. i am a cna and went through half of the ma training when i was 17. that is a far cry from a nurse.

today my 2 year old(at the direction of my 6 yr old) jumped off of the toy box - and landed on his head.

needless to say, even though i knew that he wasn't unconscious, he wasn't bleeding or having drainage from ears, nose or throat, he was talking well, pupils responded to the light, etc. i wanted to take him to the doctor or have an over the phone nurse determine if he should just go to the er.

i called the pedi, and the scheduler comes on the line. i asked to speak to a nurse, and she said - i could speak with her.

so, i told her what happened - and she said - its ok - well see him tonight at 6pm - well that was going to be 6 hours later. she didnt ask me questions about how he was doing, how far he fell, what his symptoms were, nothing. just - oh he fell - well we will see him later.

she was saying her good byes when i asked - wait - dont you want to ask the doctor or at least someone with medical training if he should wait that long. she said no he will be fine. so i flipped out! needless to say, the doctor herself got on the line, and said that her scheduler was not a nurse and she had no business taking medical question calls- that was what the nurse triage line was for... i believe she got in trouble over it. the doctor told me to take my son to the er.

hasnt anyone ever heard of scope of practice? stay in it - its there for a reason! my older son fell when he was 2 years while on his fathers shoulders - 6 feet down to the concrete. he blacked out - and was in and out of consciousness. his pedi at the time was next to the mall so we rushed over there - and the receptionist told us to sign in and wait. i signed in and explained what happened and she said wait. so i sat down for a good 5 mins, poking at my son to keep him awake, while other patients were called back. i finally asked my self wth am i doing - get help. so i stood up and went hysterical- i mean nuts. i thought my son was dying at that point. the doctor comes running out and all of the nurses - to the counter. the minute i saw the doctor - i scambled for him and pled for him to see my son. he said yes get him back here- so we went on back. he said this boy needs to get to the er 10 minutes ago.

needless to say - since that experience - and believe me it is a much longer story but i dont want to hijack the thread lol.... i dont take chances- nor do i let people without the crediantials diagnose my kids - or tell me to take a seat or wait for an appointment.

by the way my son is fine - lots of brusing on the forehead, but he will survive.:banghead:

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