what the heck are medical assistant schools doing !

[lauralassie]

I'm an RN, in the ER. I know of 4 people who, in my opinion have been rooked into MA (medical assistant ) schools. Each on of these people have been told that , MA , can do everything an RN can do. Not sure about you but I don't think the Cardiac Thorasic Dr's want an MA to care for a crashing patient at 2:00 am. My best freind completed an ma course, her med list MOM, TD, Botox(go figure why this is even on a med list for an ma)etc. As compaired to an RN list of inatrops, ca blockers etc..

Any one have any ideas of how to stop the practice of ma schools comparing ma 's to Rn's?

[Ausculapius]

Fantastic thread.

Before I decided to enter nursing school, I explored the CNA/MA route quite a bit. The schools _minimum_ cost for these programs was 10k, and this was years ago. On graduation, the total cost to get my RN will be around 6k. Thank you Community College!

[nursingbeauty]

Well there are rop programs you can attend for about 100 bucks and you get certified,I currently work at an urgent care and there is a big difference between nurses and ma's, ma's do not give narc/s or start IV'S they room patients, do ekg's, and other mild jobs nurses dont have time to. I was an ma and found my job pretty easy and i learned a hell of alot doing it...

[MSNMPHPhdNMD]

I am the dept chair at a College in Atlanta. I emphasize to my students that medical assisting is totally different from being an Rn and going to school for nine months is nothing compared to the training that RN'S get. Dr's do call the Ma's nurses in the office.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I think that people are fooled into thinking that medical assistants can equate to nurses, because it simply is not true. Anatomy is a joke, and anyone can learn to do calculations for injections, but they are not trained in learning the side effects of medications or anything else. I took one years ago, and while I admit that I did make a decent living doing it as a side job, it was nothing compared to when I decided to become an LPN. If MA can't compare to LPN, then, it is totally risky to compare them to RNs.

[jthomas47]

In North Carolina---you can go to class for a total of 24 hours, do 1 day of clinicals, take a state test, and give meds to assisted living residents in a nursing home or an assisted living facitity. Starting on Nov. 1, they can give meds to skilled residents-----How wrong is this----I work with some of them and they are nice people, but they have NO IDEA what most of the meds. are, much less any side effects or any problems to look for.I even know 1 lady that didn't go to class, just took the test, passed and became a Med. Tech.

I decided , to help as best I could, i do their oriention and work with them giving the meds, and try to give them some idea what they are doing. I must say they are very careful with their documentation on the MAR, and signing out their narc's and re- ordering their meds---but I still feel they need more classroom and clinical instruction.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

A couple weeks ago I was at my doctors office having a brace fitted to my leg. I asked the young girl doing it if she was a nurse (I was a brand new RN at the time) and she said "yes". I asked is she was an RN or LPN and she looked embarassed and admitted that she was an MA. I have no problem with MAs at all and she did a fine job fitting the brace and seemed competent in the other things she did (vitals ect) but it really bugged me that she was calling herself a nurse.

I worked very hard for my title RN and I feel that only RNs and LPNs should be able to call themselves a "nurse".

"It's a poor dog that won't wag his own tail".

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

Come on people. There is room for more than RN's and MD's in the medical field. My daughter is a MA and yes, she did go to one of the schools that lie and say all the credits will transfer, ect. But we did our homework and knew better. She drove 50 miles each way, for 9 months to go to school and loved every minute of it. Not everyone is ready to commit to the time it takes to become a nurse. Some wait until later in life such as me (graduating in 12/06 at 47 YOA) :mortarboard: . She learned a valuable education at that school and has the certification behind her. Not many nurses out there can say they know the in's and out's of the insurance side of a medical practice like she does. Just like GN's and new RN's she also did a lot of "on-the-job" training. Even if you do not admit it, no RN out there knew it all just after graduation...if you did I beg to differ. I will graduate in December as a GN and I can proudly say I can not wait for my "on-the-job" training. MA's play a very important role in the MD's office and just like the MD would not know what to do without a good nurse at the hospital, well the same goes for MA's at the MD's office. My daughter continues to learn and improve her skills even after years of practice. She works in a large Internal Medicine practice and her MD's love her and know their office would fall apart if it was not for her. If an MA decides to work as a nurse tech/nursing assistant then maybe that is what she/he needs to do at that time in their life. Maybe they are trying to figure out if they want to go back to school to pursue a degree and as a member of the team, you should respect that.

No one is stating that your daughter does not offer any value into the medical profession as a medical assistant. They are familiar with diagnostic tests, work side by side with physicians, etc... We are simply saying that they are NOT nurses; and it is not in the nurse's basic function to know about insurance, managed care and the like. I worked as a medical assistant myself, and I know that I was a valued member of the team; but I was not a nurse. And, now that I became an LPN, I can say that they have certainly skimmed the surface compared to what I had to know when I took a nursing exam. Also, the MA has no liability if they misinform the patients about anything...the physician does. All we are saying is that as nurses, we need to be acknowledged in a different fashion. For example, I am a Licensed Practical Nurse. I should not misrepresent myself as being an RN because the focus of the practice is different. While you may see an LPN and RN performing similar functions, the Nurse Practice Act determines that there are some things that the RN can do that the LPN cannot, and we should not mislead people to think differently. This does not mean that the LPN is of less value than the RN, just that she should not say she is an RN when in fact, she isn't. The same goes for a Medical Assistant and LPN. There are some things that MAs should not do and she should not tell anyone that she is a nurse.

[emarie]

I'm an MA and I didn't go to school for and MA but I was taught on the job training by the same Dr. for whom I have worked for the pass 6 years. I will start nursing school in August 07 with the good Lord willing. I say more power to the MA's trying to make it out there, but do look out for the fast pushing saleperson of a vocational school;:redlight:

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I have seen several of these comercials on t.v. that have made similar statements, but also know of several schools around here who actually have an Associate's degree program in medical assisting, which is the type of program my mother went through. She worked at an urgent care clinic and loved being a CMA. There was one story though, that I will never forget her telling me, the time she had a patient who was an RN and asked her what her title was, my mother told her she was a Certified Medical Assistant and the RN demanded she have a nurse draw her blood. How silly is this? My mother was extremely compotent at her job, trained and oriented new nurses and CMA's, had been FORMALLY trained to perform the task and was certified to do her job and yet simply because she didn't have RN after her name this patient refused to accept care from her. Pretty silly if you ask me, I think many nurses have it in their head that no one can do a job like a nurse can, whether it be a bed bath or a venipuncture. Are CMA's nurses, No, do they perform certain duties that were once considered ONLY nursing duties, yes. I think this problem of lack of respect for CMA's originates from some of these schools telling their students that they are nurses and this bothers people in the nursing community and even in the medical assisting community so much that CMA's are treated like crap a lot of times. It was because of this reason that my mother was in the process of getting her RN but wasn't able to because she passed away. The point of my post? We need to educate ourselves and those around us about the roles of our commrades in healthcare. I don't think schooling is a waste of money, period however one should be leery of ANY program that has an outrageous price. And please let's not turn this into a flaming board against CMA's and my post is not meant to offend ANYONE and if it has done so I apologize, just thought I'd share my own personal experience with *in my opinion although I'm obviously bias* the best CMA I've ever known.

I have always been curious about what the Associate's Degree in Medical Assisting have taught. Does it include managment training? I can see why that is done, because that is necessary for large offices, and they do benefit from learning about basic science and all. I think that the RN that doubted your mother's skills was a louse.

I don't think that you have offended anyone, at least not me. I do believe that the MA is trained for their field of expertise and are very talented. The only thing I am hearing is the misrepresentation, and that should be corrected.

[bmh-lpn]

In our area we have two major hospitals. Both hospitals and their clinics have been laying off some of the LPNs and RNs and replacing with MAs stating they are cheaper and do the same work as a nurse. They call them Nurses. I don't get it either. They say as long as a Dr is present & give the orders they can do it. Just don't get it? Just very scarry to me. I ask what credentials they have anymore.:uhoh21:

Boneta

[HeartsOpenWide, RN]

In our area we have two major hospitals. Both hospitals and their clinics have been laying off some of the LPNs and RNs and replacing with MAs stating they are cheaper and do the same work as a nurse. They call them Nurses. I don't get it either. They say as long as a Dr is present & give the orders they can do it. Just don't get it? Just very scarry to me. I ask what credentials they have anymore.:uhoh21:

Boneta

How is this even legal??

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

Well If you spent 12000 bucks to become an ma you are stupid there are rop programs you can attend for about 100 bucks and you get certified,I currently work at an urgent care and there is a big difference between nurses and ma's, ma's do not give narc/s or start IV'S they room patients, do ekg's, and other mild jobs nurses dont have time to. I was an ma and found my job pretty easy and i learned a hell of alot doing it...In fact I think some of the older rn's re jealous that us young bucks are learning things a whole lot quicker and catching on a whole lot faster then any of them ever did, dont be upset that an ma could fill your shoes faster and better after only a year of schooling

Ok, this is one of my pet peeves. I would not call someone "stupid." I wouldn't personally do the high-cost MA route. But I wouldn't call someone who did - such a term. Everyone else's experience is not identical to your own.

Also, you don't know how these so-called "older RN's" learned. You weren't there.

I'd be proud of your own achievements without pulling down others.

Be careful of what you don't know that you don't know about RN education either.