I always thought that I had a decent understanding of the current evolution of certain parts of the healthcare delivery process: specifically the trend toward MD offices no longer hiring licensed nursing personnel and instead choosing to hire and train MA's to carry parts of the role of the licensed nurse. I have somewhat resigned myself to the trend, considering that (a) I have no choice in the matter, and (b) I deal with the fall-out day in and day out in my position as a pre-op RN in an ASC (i.e., dealing with patients who are totally unsuitable for an ambulatory surgery center, but no one who "assessed" them understood that). At the same time, I thought that the assistive personnel who were filling positions previously occupied by nurses understood the scope of their positions.
However, several recent posts have me wondering if I really do understand what's going on. There are MA's that sincerely believe that they are "doing the job" of a licensed nurse. They apparently believe that their MA courses are on a par with accredited nursing program courses. They do not seem to understand the concept or value of a professional license. And then there's the apparent turf war between MA's and CNA's...MA's rank higher than CNA's?
Am I seeing this trend accurately? I am seriously starting to question where healthcare delivery is headed.
