*rant* "Nurse" at office answering questions.

I posted earlier about my cousin the MA, and I took one poster's advice about telling her about the ramifications of calling herself a nurse. However in our conversation I was enlightened. It seems MAs go to school, just like nurses, but then their education continues under the direction of a physician. I know nurses do CEs, but this sounds like it is a little different. Their CE is more like an apprenticeship, and they have no definitive scope of practice. So if their physician teaches them to hang IVs, supposedly (and I'm only taking this from what she told me!) they are legally allowed to do so. And so on and so on. She said that they aren't taught to call themselves nurses in school, but after being taken under the wing of a MD and learning "nursing" skills, a lot of the MDs start to refer to them as "my nurse". She said that after gaining the MD's respect and mastering certain skills they do feel justified to call themselves "Dr. Z's nurse." She said she would never refer to herself as "A nurse", but only as his/her nurse specifically. She related it to a sickly husband calling his wife, the caregiver, "my nurse".

It is definitely not right, and I SO DO NOT AGREE, but I felt I would share from her POV, just so as an example of how one MA felt about the nurse title.

MA are allowed to ask questions over the phone. How was she assessing? I though she was asking questions. I work as a Certified Medical Assistant as I am going to school. When patients call and asked to talk to a nurse the receptionist says, "We do not have nurses, we have medical assistants, would you like to talk to one?"

MAs are allowed to triage, which involves asking questions so they can tell the doctor what is going on. But not make major decisions.

They can however give basic medical advise, like "Your U/A came back and indicates that you have a UTI. The doctor is having me call in an Rx for you. It is a good idea to drink a lot of orange juice. Avoid bubble baths and make sure you urinate frequently and not hold it too long.” Then when they ask questions about the test result they can say, “Normal range for urine pH is 5.0 to 7.0. Above 7.0 is considered alkaline, and below 5.0 is acid. If a urine specimen is above a pH of 7.0, more than likely it contains a large amount of bacteria, which is why the urine is alkaline. Urinary casts that are formed in the kidneys are destroyed, and urinary casts are important in the diagnosis of a patient’ condition. Adjustments can be made to help the body balance out pH levels. A patient with a condition like the above, maybe instructed by their doctor to drink large amounts of orange juice, not only to help flush the bacteria out of the urinary system, but to help balance their pH levels with the orange juice’s citric acid.
When homeostasis is out of balance, all cells of the body suffer. Moderate dysfunctions, like bacteria in the urine that causes a pH level rise, can cause illness, like a painful burn upon urination (UTI). Severe dysfunction can lead to death."

Yes, MA's should not refer to themselves as Nurses. I however hope that when I become a nurse I do not gain such a negative attitude about some one that has a lower status than me. I know when I become a nurse I do not want a doctor to say "Oh, what advise can she give? She is only a nurse"

I posted earlier about my cousin the MA, and I took one poster's advice about telling her about the ramifications of calling herself a nurse. However in our conversation I was enlightened. It seems MAs go to school, just like nurses, but then their education continues under the direction of a physician. I know nurses do CEs, but this sounds like it is a little different. Their CE is more like an apprenticeship, and they have no definitive scope of practice. So if their physician teaches them to hang IVs, supposedly (and I'm only taking this from what she told me!) they are legally allowed to do so. And so on and so on. She said that they aren't taught to call themselves nurses in school, but after being taken under the wing of a MD and learning "nursing" skills, a lot of the MDs start to refer to them as "my nurse". She said that after gaining the MD's respect and mastering certain skills they do feel justified to call themselves "Dr. Z's nurse." She said she would never refer to herself as "A nurse", but only as his/her nurse specifically. She related it to a sickly husband calling his wife, the caregiver, "my nurse".

It is definitely not right, and I SO DO NOT AGREE, but I felt I would share from her POV, just so as an example of how one MA felt about the nurse title.

OMG...I wouldn't even tell a pt. all that and I'm a nurse! That sounds straight out of a text book and you would loose a patient after two sentences with that line!

Originally Posted by HeartsOpenWide
MA are allowed to ask questions over the phone. How was she assessing? I though she was asking questions. I work as a Certified Medical Assistant as I am going to school. When patients call and asked to talk to a nurse the receptionist says, "We do not have nurses, we have medical assistants, would you like to talk to one?"

MAs are allowed to triage, which involves asking questions so they can tell the doctor what is going on. But not make major decisions.

Originally Posted by HeartsOpenWide: I know when I become a nurse I do not want a doctor to say "Oh, what advise can she give? She is only a nurse"

Hi all.

So I called my FP's office to schedule an appointment for a lump I found in my breast. No big deal, probably a milk duct since I'm a lactating mom, but I wanted it checked out all the same. So I call the office for an appointment. The woman I spoke to was nice enough, and offered an appointment a week from the time I was calling. I questioned if I should be seen sooner or if it was ok to go a week out. So she starts asking questions, kind of assessing the situation. Well, I'm dumb but not stupid, so I ask, "Are you a nurse?" And she says, "Yes, I am, I'm Dr. S's nurse." And then I say, "Are you an RN or an LVN?" And she says,

"I'm neither. I'm a Medical Assistant."

AAAGGGHHH. I replied, "Then you are not a nurse and you shouldn't be trying to assess over the phone." I wasn't trying to be a rude b*tch, but when a MA, who has very limited medical training, is trying to assess a breast lump over the phone, she should not pass herself off as a nurse. I spoke to one of the docs in the clinic, who is a friend, and I told her she needed to speak to this "nurse", because that MA was opening the clinic up to major medical liability if she screwed up and assessed something or someone she wasn't supposed to.

Am I off here? Or am I just being a cranky new mom? I guess I'm just protective of the title "nurse", since that implies a certain skill and knowledge set.

Alison