Advice studying LPN/Medical Assistant

allnurses Guide · Apr 5, 2017

Hi Beatriz, welcome to allnurses! In response to your question about wanting to study something else prior to LPN school, such as medical assistant training that is related to healthcare, but won't lead to the nursing (LPN, RN) licensure exam or an entry level nursing position.

My advice would be that if you know you want to pursue nursing, I would direct my energies to courses that will lead you to nursing, such as a nursing assistant, or perhaps you can begin to work on pre-requisites for nursing school.

Hopefully you'll get some more detailed advice here from nursing students and pre-nursing students. Best Wishes!

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Apr 5, 2017

Hi Beatriz (that's my daughter's "Spanish name" -- the name she chose for her high school Spanish class :) )

I agree with nursel56, that a nursing assistant course would make more sense than a medical assistant program. CNAs do basic nursing care -- the things you don't need a degree or license for, such as bathing, feeding, dressing etc. MAs learn some skills that nurses do also, but the medical office setting isn't as applicable to nursing as working the floor of a nursing home, hospital, or rehab facility. Some MA programs are ridiculously expensive as well.

You could also reach out to the community colleges/technical schools with LPN programs, and see if they have any resources for students whose native tongue is not English. I'm pretty sure you are not the first English language learner they've come across.

Bhgmm · Apr 5, 2017

First at all, thank you so much for your answer!

I was thinking about Medical Assistant because if in a future I want to study to be a LPN, I can use credits from that Degree (or at least that's what she told me).

Scottishtape · Apr 5, 2017

First at all, thank you so much for your answer!
I was thinking about Medical Assistant because if in a future I want to study to be a LPN, I can use credits from that Degree (or at least that's what she told me).

Im sorry, but you've been mis-informed.

Medical asissting is not akin to LPN. MAs are taught on the medical model, and LPN programs are taught on the nursing model.

MA experience is nice, but will not be as helpful to you as CNA experience.

Besides that, MA programs that I've seen are the same length (sometimes longer) as LPN programs, so why not just go straight for your LPN? Seems like a wasted year.

SmilingBluEyes · Apr 6, 2017

Don't waste your precious money and time on medical assistant programs/schools. They cost upwards of 10s of 1000s of dollars for you to earn little more than minimum wage. And no, they don't offer "credits" transferable to any university or school of nursing. It's not a "degree"but a certificate.

Go, instead, to nursing school so you can be a NURSE. And LPNs ARE nurses, not the same as medical assistants, with their own responsibilities and scope of practice. Medical assistants simply do their job under the licenses of others such as nurses and doctors.

SmilingBluEyes · Apr 6, 2017

And you can get a job as a CNA, often, with training on the job. No need to go to school to do that in many cases, such as in nursing homes. Save your money for nursing school.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Apr 6, 2017

I was thinking about Medical Assistant because if in a future I want to study to be a LPN, I can use credits from that Degree (or at least that's what she told me).

This is the misinformation usually given to naive prospective students by greedy admissions counselors at shady investor-owned schools of questionable repute.

If 'she' told you this boldfaced lie, it is time to run far away from this school regardless of how nice the staff members might be. They want nothing other than your warm booty in a classroom chair and the tuition dollars in the form of financial aid.

WanderingWilder, ASN · Apr 7, 2017

If you want to be a LPN i wouldn't go for your medical assistant. Just go for the LPN. The medical assistant classes will not help you get your LPN and will basically be a waste of time. If you want to be a medical assistant that's great be a medical assistant if you want to be a LPN be a LPN. No reason to go left to go right.

KeekesRenea · Apr 7, 2017

Do what you feel will help you. CNA is probably the most traditional in terms of getting experience before becoming and LPN. But you really don't have to. People push becoming a CNA before doing LPN or RN... But, I became a paramedic and I'm aiming to become a nurse. There's really no one way to do it.

nancy welch · Apr 12, 2017

You said the same words that I was going to say..I knew a man that did exactly that a few years back and he went into Nursing after being a Paramedic,he did a year of Med surge, then moved on to ICU, he is now on a prestigious member of a medical life flight group..I remember right after he graduated Nursing school, he asked my opinion on Nursing experience that would make him more marketable for the air team..Now when I hear about his journey, I could not be more proud, it was like he was my own kid..but from another Mama.. :)

PTKChic · Apr 12, 2017

I was a CNA for 5-6 years, CMA for 9 years, and now a RN for 1 year. There are a few good points by the other responses on this thread. First, medical assistant programs are notorious at overselling their product and overcharging for it. Medical assistants are in demand, true, but medical assistant programs are popping up right and left and many are non-accredited. Your classes will not transfer. Medical assisting degrees (please don't waste more money on a degree, a diploma will do just fine at getting you certification/job) are technical credits, not liberal arts. Lab classes aren't equivalent. The credit hour system is usually different too. There is one school, that I'm familiar with, in Minnesota that uses a medical assisting degree as credit in a RN program. This school is being sued by the state for selling lies to students....

Alright, all that being said, I thank my experience as a medical assistant everyday for helping me survive nursing school and my first year as a nurse. My sister-in-law started as a LPN and she would often ask me about the skills that I learned, "Yep, I do that, I know that, check, check, check." My technical and medical skills surpassed anything she learned in her LPN program. Like another poster said, it is a medical model, not a nursing model. Nursing approaches patients holistically, which is what I love. I was sick of only asking about back pain and ignoring the fact that the patient's obesity, knee surgery, anxiety disorder, and occupation all affected his condition. As a CMA, I spent weeks learning phlebotomy (including IVs), catheterization, DME application, microbiology, ortho care, pharmacology and medication administration, surgical assistance, specimen collection, and we also did office stuff like coding and transcribing. As a nursing assistant? Bathing, brushing teeth, feeding someone, taking a blood pressure, and making a bed. Both positions are valuable. The scope of practice for medical assistants vary greatly by state. In the south, you'll see [C]MAs doing mostly administrative duties- front or back office. In Minnesota, medical assistants work to the top of their certification and education. We are practice under a doctor's license and can be trained on more complicated skills, if under close supervision of that doctor. I'm very knowledgeable in wound care, for example. During my nursing program, we had very minimal education on skills- it was very concept based. Perhaps, this was my school; maybe it was because it was a bachelor's program, I'm not sure. Blood pressure were taught and tested on in within one calendar day. They weren't put into practice in a clinical setting until 6 months later. I gave shots to a flesh-colored square of gelatin. Gelatin doesn't give feedback on your needle-poking technique, like a fellow classmate does. It's quite perturbing when nurses on allnurses comment on the scope of practice and skill set of a medical assistant, with limited knowledge on the subject. If taking the medical assisting path, which I assure you is not a worthless one, be smart and shop around for schools.

OR... you could do neither the LPN program or the medical assisting one and apply for a RN program straight up. My sister-in-law (the previously mentioned one) wasted her time and money on a LPN program by using it as a bridge to a RN program, when there were plenty of entry-level RN programs out there (again, we're in Minnesota). If you want to be a RN, cut out the middle man and go do it.