Medical Assistants in the office

[SHELLYBELLYRN]

This is probably going to open a can of worms.............but how do you all feel about replacing nurses in the office setting with Medical Assistants? How (if at all) do you feel it affects patient care?

Do any of the MA's in your offices refer to themselves as "nurses"? Have you had any problems with the knowledge base of the MA's? How are they with patient education?

May be just my situation, but I have run across some significant problems in this area................and not sure how to address it...........or even if I can address it.

[ixchel]

s/he was not going beyond her scope if that's what the provider instructed him/her to do, which is what I gather happened. It's unfair that everyone is accusing this MA of coming up with that on her own. nowhere does it say that she was not instructed to say that or that she made her own assessment after gathering data. if the patient does have elevated blood glucose levels, it very well may be that it is still "pre-diabetes." how do we not know that the patient had three random blood glucose levels that were slightly elevated and they wanted to confirm it with an A1C? there are many different scenarios that can be explained just as how this poster described it. medicine is NOT black and white, therefore it's just incorrect for you to make a wild guess about the events explained here.

This is all so bizarre...

Being told to do something by a person of higher licensure does not mean that that makes it within their scope of practice. You said you're a nurse at one point, right? If an MD instructs you to perform surgery, does that make it okay? If I, as an RN, can not tell one of my techs they are allowed to go give my patients their insulin, why in the world would an MA be allowed to do something outside their scope because someone told them they could?

[ixchel]

Also, in the example of the MA telling a patient they have pre-diabetes, does the MA know the patient's meds? Does the MA know if there is impaired pancreatic function? Is the MA licensed to know why that matters??? No! An MA should not be telling a patient they are pre-diabetic. Heck, a nurse should be reserved in that conversation, too, depending on the history of the patient.

[ixchel]

Jesus, how am I letting myself get sucked right back in.......... :\

[Jensmom7, BSN, RN]

Jesus, how am I letting myself get sucked right back in.......... :\

Find your happy place...breathe...

This is why I decided to just scroll past most of the convoluted logic and suspect "science" (like, when I start wheezing, I should just drink a big glass of OJ instead of reaching for my rescue inhaler? Nah, don't think so).

You can't convince zealots that they're pulling "facts" out of their butts.

ETA: and this is why I shouldn't try and post when hubby is yammering in my ear because I'm not paying enough attention to him.

Thought this was the anti-vac zealots, as opposed to the MA zealots.

Oh well, the same basic advice still applies lol.

[am27]

Medical assistants are responsible for "clinical messaging" aka relaying messages back and forth between provider and patient!!! That's all! There's nothing more to it so why make mountains out of molehills?! Let it go, geez!

[am27]

Your "logic" is not logical, so I will disregard your whole entry.

Being told to do something by a person of higher licensure does not mean that that makes it within their scope of practice. You said you're a nurse at one point, right? If an MD instructs you to perform surgery, does that make it okay? If I, as an RN, can not tell one of my techs they are allowed to go give my patients their insulin, why in the world would an MA be allowed to do something outside their scope because someone told them they could?

[am27]

The MA doesn't need to know anything further than what is being relayed by the provider. If the patient has further questions, the MA documents the patient's concerns then directs a message back to the provider or even the clinic RN if there is one. This is nothing more than a middleman or means of relaying messages without interrupting clinic flow and without the higher cost of a nurse to simply relay messages (assuming that's all, except for the instance I mentioned in this paragraph). Idk what is so difficult to understand about the role of a clinic medical assistant when it pertains to messaging and relaying lab results or other advice PER THE PROVIDER.....

The reasons that you people continue to argue ineffectively are clearly why medical assistants are increasing in clinics as nurses are decreasing. You really need to chill out. Ask any clinic manager about the duties of a medical assistant and they will tell you exactly what I have. They DO NOT go in depth about interpretation of lab results, implications, roles of other body systems and their implications on said problems. THEY RELAY WHAT THE PROVIDER HAS TYPED TO THE PATIENT AND THAT IS ALL. I can't speak for anyone of any job title stepping outside of their scope, but this is simple to understand, idk why you all are trying so hard to defend something unnecessary...

Also, in the example of the MA telling a patient they have pre-diabetes, does the MA know the patient's meds? Does the MA know if there is impaired pancreatic function? Is the MA licensed to know why that matters??? No! An MA should not be telling a patient they are pre-diabetic. Heck, a nurse should be reserved in that conversation, too, depending on the history of the patient.

[am27]

so so sorry for you all that get so upset by "zealous MA defenders" haha. Get some lives.

Find your happy place...breathe...

This is why I decided to just scroll past most of the convoluted logic and suspect "science" (like, when I start wheezing, I should just drink a big glass of OJ instead of reaching for my rescue inhaler? Nah, don't think so).

You can't convince zealots that they're pulling "facts" out of their butts.

ETA: and this is why I shouldn't try and post when hubby is yammering in my ear because I'm not paying enough attention to him.

Thought this was the anti-vac zealots, as opposed to the MA zealots.

Oh well, the same basic advice still applies lol.

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

The MA doesn't need to know anything further than what is being relayed by the provider. If the patient has further questions, the MA documents the patient's concerns then directs a message back to the provider or even the clinic RN if there is one. This is nothing more than a middleman or means of relaying messages without interrupting clinic flow and without the higher cost of a nurse to simply relay messages (assuming that's all, except for the instance I mentioned in this paragraph). Idk what is so difficult to understand about the role of a clinic medical assistant when it pertains to messaging and relaying lab results or other advice PER THE PROVIDER.....

Let's not yell.

[am27]

Maybe it's time this thread is closed. Posters keep commenting and arguing the clearly defined job duties of a certain healthcare professional and their personal beliefs are creeping in the discussions again. I can 100% back up everything I've posted (facts about job duties of a medical assistant, at least in my state) and the same cannot be said about the other posters speculating about medical assistants "maybe" providing advice that did not come straight from the provider. Please take this into consideration! Thank you!

Members, please note:

Several posts have been deleted for off-topic remarks.

Please post to the subject of the thread only, and refrain from name-calling, mud-slinging and/or personal attacks.

Post only what you would say in front of a group of professionals.

Thank you.

[am27]

Let's go tell our children what to do rather than attempt to belittle another adult 😊

Let's not yell.

[Jensmom7, BSN, RN]

so so sorry for you all that get so upset by "zealous MA defenders" haha. Get some lives.

Have a life, thank you, and much of it was spent informing MAs in physician offices that they are NOT RNs, they CANNOT speak on the physician's behalf, and if he's too cheap to employ an RN, then they WILL need to let him know that I need to talk to him.