Medical Assistants at Doctors Office

[southern_rn_brat]

I took my stepson to the doctor. Everyone in the office is a medical assistant, NOT a nurse....but they all call themselves nurses and answer to "nurse" without correcting the patient.

I am not sure I want someone who is not trained as a nurse to give me medication, especially by injection.

And now, on another board I belong to, there is a woman who is going to school to be a medical assistant bragging to everyone she is going to give injections, save lives, give medication, blah blah blah.

This got me to thinking. I had no idea you could actually go to college to be a medical assistant! I looked the school up on line she is going to and was suprised at the website. It actually says stuff like "learn to give injections, assist doctors with minor surgery" stuff like that.

I am really harboring a resentment against this :angryfire

In what context do medical assistants actually work? Besides a physician's office, where do they work?

What do yall think about medical assistants?

[medical assistant3]

I am proud of you for being an RN. I am a MA. I went to college and earned an associates degree. I am highly trained in phlebotomy and so much more. It is hurtful to hear how you think of me. I am far from nurse.. but I am here to help people. I am very proud of what I am and what I do. My goal is to be a nurse... I am presently continuing my education.

[ZooMommyRN, ADN, RN]

The OP had an issue with MA's that identified them self as the Nurse which in many states is flat our illegal, personally I think the 2yrs to get an MA vs 2 yrs to get the RN is the schools way of sucking more money out of the students knowing that they aren't getting paid nearly what 2yrs of schooling for RN pays

[hollie91999]

I just want to add this thread, I too am an MA currently going to RN school, I have never referred to myself as a nurse, I have always identified myself as an MA, I am trained and qualified to give injections at my place of employment, I must have my vaccines double checked by my charge nurse before I am able to go to the room and give them, For my training, we are required to be supervised by an RN to do a certain amount of injections correctly before we can give them on our own but we always have the RN check off what vaccines we draw up, so I am not just going into a room and not know what I am doing, I am trained just like RNs are trained while they are in school to do things. My point is that just because we are MAs does not make us not qualified to do certain things, there is a scope within our practice and it varies by your place of employment, I think it is unfair that the OP has such a strong opinion against MAs doing their jobs. Yes there are MAs out there who claim to be nurses or who do not know what they are doing, there are also RNs out there who do not practice exactly as to what they were taught in school or are suppose to be practicing under the regulations of BON, so it's just that there are the goods and the bads of every profession. Just my opinion.

[LadyAscheRN]

I don't think anyone is doubting that many medical assistants have been trained to be skilled, compassionate caregivers.

THAT BEING SAID: As a former legal assistant and now an RN, it really, REALLY gets under my skin when I see MAs on this board and out in public representing themselves as 'nurses'. You are not a nurse. Just as I was a legal assistant, NOT a paralegal, not an attorney. This is not meant as a "diss" on medical assistants or their profession, but as a demarcation between the legal role of a Nurse and the role of unlicensed/unregistered persons such as MAs. While I am aware that some states do offer MAs the opportunity to become "Registered Medical Assistant", the vast majority do not. Why is this? A profession with the title REGISTERED in front of it is held to a very exact legal responsibility, just as professions with LICENSED as part of their title are held to another set of legal liabilities. In the state of NY, claiming to be a Nurse if you are not an LPN or an RN is against the law, and yet every time I would call my daughter's MD office, and would ask to speak with a NURSE, inevitably some MA would tell me, "Yes, I am Dr Nobrain's Nurse!". Deplorable.

Seriously, the issue here is - it doesn't matter if you're a ditch digger, a gigolo or a public servant: Get your d@mn titles straight. The law (and common decency) demands you represent yourself correctly to everyone you come in contact with professionally!

/endrant

[mtlssa]

I know what you guys mean. I work at an urgent care and one of the employees since it opened is a medical assistant who thinks she's a nurse. She just keeps repeating that the she is already like a nurse who just not have the title. That she knows all the s*** about nursing but can't get paid like a nurse because she only has an MA title. Granted she has 3 years of experience as an MA but do you think that is equivalent to being a nurse? I don't think so! Working at an urgent care is far the same from working at a hospital where you take care of more serious patient conditions. It ****** me off but I keep my mouth shut because I've only been here for 3 months and I don't want any trouble. Just venting .. :)

[PDXnursing]

As far as I know it is illegal to refer to yourself as a nurse if you are not either an LPN or RN. Am I right? While I was in the CNA training program I was even told that it was illegal to refer to myself as a CNA to the patient-I could only say Nursing Assistant or SNA (student nursing assistant).