MA's Calling Themselves Nurses?

Nurses General Nursing

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Ok, we've just switched doctors under our medical plan. So I go in for a routine checkup, etc. at this clinic. They tell me the nurse will be with me shortly. Of course, since I'm a student, I always ask nurses how they like their jobs etc. So I ask: You're a nurse, right? She nods. How do you like the job ... blah, blah blah ... Not once did she correct me. Then I ask where she went to school. When she names the school, I'm confused because I've never heard of it.

That's when she says, "Oh ... I'm an MA."

Then the doctor comes in, and tells me "the nurse will be with you shortly." I'm like ... what nurse? Then I find out that everybody at the "Nurses Station" is actually an MA, but everyone, from the receptionist to the doctors, are referring to these MA's as nurses. My husband, who has to go in fairly frequently, says they told him the same thing ... that these MA's were nurses.

Now, I don't know if there's actually anything wrong with this, and maybe this isn't a big deal but, it seemed really weird to me. I've been to other doctor's offices where the staff was very careful to tell me they were MA's, not nurses. Especially when I asked if they were a nurse or not.

Any thoughts? Is this allowed? Why would even doctors refer to MA's as nurses?

:confused:

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this is common practice. I worked in a clinic where I was the only LPN amongst a few MAs. Yes- the Physicians do refer to all as nurses. There was no difference in our job descriptions, other than, the MAs drew blood (I had no phleb skills) & the LPNs called controlled drug prescriptions to the pharmacies & I received $1 more per hour. I loved that clinic & learned alot of valuable skills.:)

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

just like angelamac said, it is very common in docs offices to refer to everyone as the nurse. i was a MA for years before becoming a nurse and i always corrected the patients when they called me the nurse. ours docs did know the difference but i think it was just convenient for them to call us all nurses whether you were the lpn or MA. the annoying thing about that was the docs expected us to have the same knowledge as the RN or LPN and i'm sorry..but unless you go to nursing school there are some things you won't know. being a MA encouraged me to pursue my RN because i got tired of explaining what a MA was. never looked back.

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I have seen practices where the MAs call themselves "physician's assistants"- I think that is even worse- because they have prescribing power (real ones do anyway)....

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Any position is important in a health care setting. I am irritated, however, by those who refer to non-nurses as nurses. It took lots of hard work & time to attain the earned title of Registered Nurse! What others achieve should be recognized in it's own right. I worked with a CRNA who defended that idea to a MD who stated that surgical techs were the same as nurses. His answer? "Then you can call me doctor since I do the same work as an anesthesiologist." The surgeon was incensed, "But you're not a doctor." :stone Bingo, Doc!

I can really get on my soap box with this one.:chair:

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Specializes in Urgent Care.

I am a CMA now, and I always correct people who call me a nurse. The receptionists will say " let me have you speak with the nurse". Umm, there is no nurse here. The doc still calls me nurse though, and he knows I am a nursing student. It is illegal, and you could report the clinic if you chose to.

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Specializes in Urgent Care.
just like angelamac said, it is very common in docs offices to refer to everyone as the nurse. i was a MA for years before becoming a nurse and i always corrected the patients when they called me the nurse. ours docs did know the difference but i think it was just convenient for them to call us all nurses whether you were the lpn or MA. the annoying thing about that was the docs expected us to have the same knowledge as the RN or LPN and i'm sorry..but unless you go to nursing school there are some things you won't know. being a MA encouraged me to pursue my RN because i got tired of explaining what a MA was. never looked back.

well said. That is one of thew reasons I am going back as well.

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[quote=lizz

Any thoughts? Is this allowed? Why would even doctors refer to MA's as nurses?

:confused:

Dr.'s tell pt.'s that their MA's are nurses for several reasons. Most of the public doesn't know the difference betweeen a MA, NP, or PA. It's easier for them to refer to their MA's as nurses, rather than explain the difference.

The last clinics I worked in the MA's had an overinflated view of themselves and Identified themselves as "Nurses". One of our staff RN's filed a complaint and threaten to go to the State Board, if they were allowed to identified themselves as Nurses. Upper Management conceded that it was inappropriate and instructed the MA's to use their correct job titles, when speaking with pt's.

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One of our staff RN's filed a complaint and threaten to go to the State Board, if they were allowed to identified themselves as Nurses. Upper Management conceded that it was inappropriate and instructed the MA's to use their correct job titles, when speaking with pt's.

They didn't just refer to themselves as nurses. The area where they work and where patients have to go for their paperwork is marked "Nurses Station." From what I was told, there's not one nurse in that clinic.

:uhoh21:

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That is bizarre.

Someone I know has a mom who is a "nurse". I asked her one day "what is your mom, an LPN or an RN??" she said "oh, she's not any of that , she's just a nurse"

?????????

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They didn't just refer to themselves as nurses. The area where they work and where patients have to go for their paperwork is marked "Nurses Station." From what I was told, there's not one nurse in that clinic.

:uhoh21:

The problem comes up that if the Dr. refers to their MA's as "nurses", then the pt has the expectation that their care is being performed by a Nurse. If something goes wrong or the "nurse" gives the pt. wrong information ( which happens quite a bit in my experience), then the Dr. is setting himself and his staff for a malpractice suit.

It's a lot better to refer to the MA, as "my assistant", rather than as a "nurse", if the dr. doesn't want to take the time to explain job titles to their patients.

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That is bizarre.

Someone I know has a mom who is a "nurse". I asked her one day "what is your mom, an LPN or an RN??" she said "oh, she's not any of that , she's just a nurse"

?????????

I had a patient do the same thing last week, when I asked her what type of nurse, her mother was, the patient said she didn't know. Turns out "mom" was a CNA in a LTC.

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