Nevada Stops "Medical Assistants" from Giving Injections

My butt you can tell the difference! I am in nursing school and I had to do more injections on each other for my cert for my MA certification than I have had to do for my ADN - and I am in a highly regarded program locally. An IM is an IM - if you are trained and you know what you are doing technique is technique. As far as what needs to be monitored afterward, I was a VERY well trained MA and I always monitored for reactions to new medications. I have had an RN tell me that an IV was not infiltrated when it was, I have had an RN tell me that ranitidine was for my family member's allergies not his GERD problems (and yes I know it can be given, but at least I knew what he ACTUALLY took it for)...the list goes on and on. There are great MA's and great Nurses - and if you think that we would be able to get RN's and LPN's for every doctors office in this state (Nevada) let alone every one in the country you are sorely mistaken! We don't have enough for all of the critical needs RN positions for goshsakes. Let people have their jobs, RN is different from LPN is different from a CNA is different from an MA and all have their value.

In my state (Florida), MAs are not regulated by the Board of Nursing, so the Nurse Practice Act does not apply to them. Our NPA defines the scope of practice for CNAs, LPNs, RNs, etc - i.e., providers regulated by the Board of Nursing. If a MA is hired by a physician's office and said physician wants the MA to give injections, then the MA will be trained to do so, if, for whatever reason, they were not trained in their program.

Forgive me for saying so...but what are we really "getting back"? The right to give an injection? That's not exactly rocket science. And, an MA giving an injection is certainly not going to push me out of a job, so what's the harm? Nurses have their place in the medical community. MA's don't endanger that in the least!

Long before I became a nurse, I used to give my father in law his insulin injections. Anyone can give an injection. It's really not that much of a skilled process. The part that does take some skill is knowing what gauge needle to use, how to draw up the medication and where on the body an injection should go. When I was an MA prior to becoming a nurse, I gave injections of kenalog, lidocaine for surgery prep, flu shots, blood draws, etc. all under the guidance of the MD who taught me how to do so. I got to "practice" on living and breathing patients and based on their feedback, I was able to improve my technique.

I don't think that my "skill" at giving injections has suddenly become that much greater ever since I got a few initials after my last name. I gave good injections then. I give good injections now.

MA's are a very valuable resource in physicians offices. I don't think that they get the respect that they deserve from the nursing community and are treated shoddily...usually by insecure nurses.