boards need to regulate MA's

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Really sick of ma's doing all sorts of things under a dr's license. (or RN license). It is quite amazing the things they do. Scary as a matter of fact. Really feel the boards of Nursing need to take a stand on this issue. They regulate everyting else , why not MA's (medical assistants). I plan on looking into it in Ohio. Any one else ? Don't get me wrong, I love MA's Cna's etc... they are a vital part of the medical world. However, the things they are allowed to do are jaw dropping. Not that skills are difficult but the critical thinking aspect of the skill is another matter. I know they are acting under the license of a DR. but, don't want them to care for my child or 88 yo mother.

Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
Wow, thanks for that. I have looked high and low for such info. I have not as yet found such a site for Ohio. That was very informative. It is very ,,,,,,,very scary in Ohio (as far as what MA's are allowed to do). I have a friend that's an MA, who has started IV's, hung fluid (was a holistic health clinic), telephone triage, on and on and on. Some of the things she tells me are so wrong I don't even know where to start. I usually just keep my mouth shut because I don't want to start an argument.......proving my point to her isn't worth a friendship. I hope Ohio has a scope of practice like this. Cause if it does, I will be calling a few physicians or perhaps a news station.....I really think that some of this need to be exposed to the public. I agree also the schools are to blame for a lot of the problems. My freind is a very smart girl who was layed off from a upper management job (after 15 years). The school sucked her in, told her many things about being an MA, told her it would cost 10,000 $, for only 10 months of school. They got her a bad time in her life and I feel they had her just where they wanted her. Yes, if she would have done more reasearch she may have known more about MA's but, I was a really bad time in her life. Here was a school that taught "nursing" and why would anyone in health care lie to her. After all don't they all care about people... I feel these schools get a lot of money from the state to train people for just a little more than min. wage jobs. It's a shame.

When I did case management, here in Florida, back in the 1980s, I also did vocational testing and assessment. There were times when I recommended the insurance company send a person back to a vo-tech, a community college or a four year college, for advanced education and training. Several times, I had clients who came to me with handouts from the various commercial programs around the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. Their prices were outrageous but they did get their students federal loans. And when the person dropped out because they never should have been admitted, they were stuck with huge loan repayments. Payments that had to make out of minimum wage jobs. It is not only a shame, it should be against the law.

Woody:balloons:

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Please tell me how your cirification regulates you in any way. I am ACLS, PALS ,TNCC, CCRN .CPR CNN ,CFN certified, I have to maintain CEU's out the yazoo inorder to keep the cirtifications, but, The Ohio Board of Nursing it the big daddy,They regulate RN's to the max. They are the regulatory agency that can remove me from nursing faster than I can blink my eyes. AACN can take away my certification but can't remove my license unless they go to the OBN. If you don't maintain your CEU's for MA will they just take your cirtification or are you no longer an MA ?

MAs do have to maintain CEU's, otherwise they will lose their certification status. Yes, you can work as an uncertified MA, however, most Doctors (at least in my area) are looking only for those who are Certified or Registered (MAs can be registered, as well). I do agree that MAs need a specific scope of practice, however, not all us are stupid and careless, and most of us do only what we were taught to do in school. I would NEVER EVER give a patient medical advice (one of the first things taught to us in school), especially about meds. That's just plain stupid. The only person I'd ever take medical advice from would be a doctor.

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Also, I would like to say this:

I don't think most MAs go out and say that they are nurses--I know some are ignorant and do, but not all of them. It is a problem with the culture and society--Anytime they see a woman in scrubs, they automatically assume that she is a nurse. (Let's face it, most MAs are female, and most nurses are female). She could be a surgeon, dental hygenist, or even a first year medical resident, and people would still refer to her as a nurse. That's just how the general public thinks...

I think that there should be national COLORS that nurses (and all medical staff) should wear so their title can be identified without having to squint to see some letters on a name badge.

So, don't always assume it's the MAs that are misrepresenting themselves. A lot of people don't take the time to look at someone's ID badge.

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MAs do have to maintain CEU's, otherwise they will lose their certification status. Yes, you can work as an uncertified MA, however, most Doctors (at least in my area) are looking only for those who are Certified or Registered (MAs can be registered, as well). I do agree that MAs need a specific scope of practice, however, not all us are stupid and careless, and most of us do only what we were taught to do in school. I would NEVER EVER give a patient medical advice (one of the first things taught to us in school), especially about meds. That's just plain stupid. The only person I'd ever take medical advice from would be a doctor.

My heavens, in no way did I ever intend to say that MA's are stupid or careless. MA, cna etc are valuabel in the med feild. I'm just trying to figure out who regulates them , because of the things I've seen in offices etc.. There was an interesting post, think it's on the post about nurses of war....any way , it presents a site for CA, that there is acutally a scope of practice written by the state. It is very interesting. That is what I'm looking for in Ohio. So far havn't seen anything. But , maybe I'm not looking in the right place. I've seen the cirtification site, but there's nothing about a scope of practie.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, IM, OB/GYN, neuro, GI.

I am currently a MA and in nursing school and I agree with there being some type of board for them. I only did the things that I was taught in school eg triage, assist with procedures, remove staples, give injections, called in scripts, drew blood, performed EKG's, and gave patients results over the phone but only it I understood the diagnosis and was able to answer questions if not them a message was left for the doctor. I also worked in a hospital as a patient sitter and was hired with them knowing that I only had a MA and no other certifications.

What I have seen in most places is that it's the Dr. themselves who let the MA do things that we were taught in school not to do and the MA's not having the courage to stand up to the person that signs the checks. I also would get upset that they would refer to someone as a "nurse" and that person would always be the one that the patients ran to when they had a question that someone didn't know. I never called myself something that I wasn't and I would tell the "nurse" that I was more of a "nurse" than she was because at least I'm currently in school for it.

The schools themselves should also be regulated because in most cases they aren't even accredited. The schools are hungry for there $10,000 a pop, with entrance exams that a 5th grader could pass, and not really caring how capable you are to do things in the real world.

I think that since we work under the Dr. licenses that we should be regulated by their medical board.

As for there being MA's in the field that don't know what they're doing it is the same in every profession. I've seen RN's/LPN's take meds out of the trash and give it to patients, use the same needle several times to start an IV, force feed a patient mes when they refused, and leave meds laying out unattended then pick them up and give them to a patient without ever rechecking to see if they were the right ones in which they should have been thrown away and started over. When I would call them on this it was more or less what do YOU now you're a MA/nursing student and they went about their business. They have regulations and their NPA's that they are supposed to follow and yet some don't. So even if there was a board or something similar for MA's it doesn't mean that they would follow it.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.
The longer MA are allowed to call themselves nurses the more we will see a decline in the pay of LPN and RN's. I am confused with MA, if you are a MA arent you proud of that?? Call yourself an MA for god sake. If you want to be called a nurse go back to school and complete that degree. MA function in a different role then a Nurse and should not be confused with a nurse.

Example- MA (who says she is the nurse) calls me back for the MD I just called to update on a low blood sugar. MA tells me the doctor wants me to stop the glipigaugh... umm what was that? Glipizide? She had no idea what I ment.... sigh

MA are important they assist doctors when needed under their guidance. But you better believe I wont take any phone orders from them or leave lab values/pt updates/changes with them. They just dont have the education to understand the importance of things like a nurse does.

Hopefully this will get the attention it deserves and they will start to fine/punish those who misrepresent themselves.

So just by them calling themselves a nurse, this causes a decline in our pay. I dont follow that.

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So just by them calling themselves a nurse, this causes a decline in our pay. I dont follow that.

Not sure , but one cause is that if Dr's , public and hospitals all think that .....Gee we can get an MA to do the same thing as a nurse then why should we hire and RN ? It's happened in Dr's offices already, most used to hire RN's, now it's ma's. We all know how it is most of the time in the medical feild, the bottom line is where it counts.....even if pt care suffers.

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My heavens, in no way did I ever intend to say that MA's are stupid or careless. MA, cna etc are valuabel in the med feild. I'm just trying to figure out who regulates them , because of the things I've seen in offices etc.. There was an interesting post, think it's on the post about nurses of war....any way , it presents a site for CA, that there is acutally a scope of practice written by the state. It is very interesting. That is what I'm looking for in Ohio. So far havn't seen anything. But , maybe I'm not looking in the right place. I've seen the cirtification site, but there's nothing about a scope of practie.

Oh no, I didn't think you were calling ALL MAs stupid/careless, but I know there is a problem with some doing stupid or careless things (i.e.--working outside of their scope, etc).

Here is a website that gives a general idea of the scopes of practice for an MA, as well as information about liability for performing procedures outside of the scope and working under someone elses' liscence:

http://www.medicalassistant.net/scope_practice.htm

Hope that helps you out a bit =)

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Hey All,

As far as scopes of practice, that's done State by State. In Illinois, the only people who can do X-rays are X-ray techs, but the rest can be done by MA's. Our MA's can draw blood, do EKG's, even start IV's, it really is amazing. I, personally have no problem with MA's doing this stuff in an office under the supervision of a physician. That's what I see as the main difference; I get an order and I start the IV, no doctor need be present. For the MA's, they need the Doctor or NP there, but again that's here in Illinois.

It is my hope that at some point our Nursing Board sees what's going on here. Because of increasing regulations and narrowing of our license's, and the increasing costs of health care, added to by the lack of instructors, suffering the consequences seems logical, but I am amazed by the shock that nurses are in. And from what I understand, the State Nursing Board's in many state's are encouraging PH d's to teach, that just seems like the worlds best answer to improving the nursing shortage.

And what do we do in the mean time? Pick on one another, who does more, who can do what, who is smarter, and my all time favorite, that I personally got to enjoy on more than one occasion, in more than one situation; not only do I know more, but I'm not going to teach you what I know, so then I can always know more than you. What's up with that?

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I resent the fact that CMA'S are looked upon as cheap substitutes. I am very passionate about my job and the care my patients receive from me. I WILL NOT PERFORM SOMETHING THAT IS OUT OF MY POTENTIAL FOR A DR. OR ANYONE! And yes, I have been fired from jobs because of this. But you know what, I am the one that can lay my head down at night knowing that if that patient dies during the night, IT WILL NOT BE BECAUSE OF AN UNSKILLED PROCEDURE THAT I PERFORMED.

Also, not everyone has the opportunity to go straight into nursing school, working as a medical assistant is paying my way through nursing school now as I try to further my career. Also, If it were not for MA'S or CNA's. then that would be more work for you all to do, and give you all something else to gripe about.

I am very offended by the comment that we are cheap labor. If you know so much, then why did you stop at your nursing degree? Why did you not go on to become the DR?

I don't think that's what most of us are saying. I think all RN's can agree that well trained, hard working MA's and NAC's are invalluable. However it's the MA's that THINK they're RN's that get us peeved. The one's that don't have the training and yet still believe (and act like) they do, which put people in danger. There is nothing more valuable to an RN than an NAC or MA that does their job well.

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Oh no, I didn't think you were calling ALL MAs stupid/careless, but I know there is a problem with some doing stupid or careless things (i.e.--working outside of their scope, etc).

Here is a website that gives a general idea of the scopes of practice for an MA, as well as information about liability for performing procedures outside of the scope and working under someone elses' liscence:

http://www.medicalassistant.net/scope_practice.htm

Hope that helps you out a bit =)

Wow that is a wounderful site. Hmmmm, wounder why Ohio is behind on such matters. Thanks

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Oh no, I didn't think you were calling ALL MAs stupid/careless, but I know there is a problem with some doing stupid or careless things (i.e.--working outside of their scope, etc).

Here is a website that gives a general idea of the scopes of practice for an MA, as well as information about liability for performing procedures outside of the scope and working under someone elses' liscence:

http://www.medicalassistant.net/scope_practice.htm

Hope that helps you out a bit =)

Wow that is a wounderful site. Hmmmm, wounder why Ohio is behind on such matters. Thanks

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