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 OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.
Actually, here in Melbourne, FL., our "Major" hospital here is called Holmes Regional. They are part of the Health First Organization. As you can see by this job posting,MA, Medical Assistants are very much a part of the hospital staff. I was told specifically by the HR and Nurse Manager, as I stated above, MA positions are replacing LPN positions, as for the reasons I posted above. The University I attend has an MA course and they send out 40-50 MA's every 6-8 months. Like I said, this could just be a trend in my area, but when I was considering going to LPN school I took what they people doing the hiring said to heart. I decided on, and am in, RN school.

Certified Nurses Assistant is not and MA. A CNT does indeed work in the hospital. They are not clinical staff (don't flame me, I'm talking about my particular hospital) They are not responsible for any meds, etc. They are awesome. They do VS, ambulating patients, feeding, changing, beds, baths, etc...When I was working in the hospital for 20+ years I could not have done without my CNA. I admire them, I could not do their job. Very physical.

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I do know what an MA is, they updated the page from the time I put it here and the time you obviously looked at it. If you do a search they DO have MA's. My best friend is an MA at Holmes so I am not a complete idiot.

Health First Job Postings

Listing of jobs that meet the following search criteria:

[Job Title Certified Medical Assistant] [Department Any] [Facility Any] [Job Class Any] [Job Shift Any]

Job Title:
Certified Medical Assistant

Department:
HF Physicians - Dr. Norris/PBCH

Facility:
HF Physicians

Classification:
FT

Shift:
Days

Job Title: Certified Medical Assistant

Department: HF Physicians - Dr. Stambolisky/CCH MOB

Facility: HF Physicians

Classification: FT

Shift: Days

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
Actually, here in Melbourne, FL., our "Major" hospital here is called Holmes Regional. They are part of the Health First Organization. As you can see by this job posting,MA, Medical Assistants are very much a part of the hospital staff. I was told specifically by the HR and Nurse Manager, as I stated above, MA positions are replacing LPN positions, as for the reasons I posted above. The University I attend has an MA course and they send out 40-50 MA's every 6-8 months. Like I said, this could just be a trend in my area, but when I was considering going to LPN school I took what they people doing the hiring said to heart. I decided on, and am in, RN school.

I live on the other side of the state, in the SW corner. With the exception of three years, I have lived here since 1980. I have heard that LPN's would be done away with, as a class of nurses, since the early 80's. There is still a PN program at our local vo-tech, there is one in the county south of us, and one in the county north of us. So much for doing away with them. The area hospitals, LTC facilities, school districts, all still hire LPN's. Again, so much for doing away with LPN's.

I believe that the replacement of LPN's, with MA's, is limited to your area, your system. And it is an apparent attempt by your health care system to lower the cost to their system. Please remind me not to come to your area, I want to be taken care of by licensed nurses, even here in Florida.

Woody:balloons:

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I live on the other side of the state, in the SW corner. With the exception of three years, I have lived here since 1980. I have heard that LPN's would be done away with, as a class of nurses, since the early 80's. There is still a PN program at our local vo-tech, there is one in the county south of us, and one in the county north of us. So much for doing away with them. The area hospitals, LTC facilities, school districts, all still hire LPN's. Again, so much for doing away with LPN's.

I believe that the replacement of LPN's, with MA's, is limited to your area, your system. And it is an apparent attempt by your health care system to lower the cost to their system. Please remind me not to come to your area, I want to be taken care of by licensed nurses, even here in Florida.

My side of the state is a pain in the neck. When I was inquiring they weren't saying no more LPN's in the medical field, just at their locations. Nursing homes and LTC facilities still rely mostly on LPN staffing. I just knew I wanted to be in a hospital setting when I graduated so I was inquiring as to positions that would suit my end goals. Due to those conversations, I chose to go to RN school and I am happy with my choice. I agree, I don't care for the idea of MA's doing a what a truly "licensed" medical person should be doing. Another reason once I have my 1 year in I am going to try out the travel industry and get away from my area of Florida. We are thinking of coming to YOUR side of Florida, Woody!!!!

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.
Actually, here in Melbourne, FL., our "Major" hospital here is called Holmes Regional. They are part of the Health First Organization. As you can see by this job posting,MA, Medical Assistants are very much a part of the hospital staff. I was told specifically by the HR and Nurse Manager, as I stated above, MA positions are replacing LPN positions, as for the reasons I posted above. The University I attend has an MA course and they send out 40-50 MA's every 6-8 months. Like I said, this could just be a trend in my area, but when I was considering going to LPN school I took what they people doing the hiring said to heart. I decided on, and am in, RN school.

Melbourne is a nice area, I went to HS at Merritt Island. Graduated in 68

Dated a lot of Melbourne girls though in my time. Good luck in school.

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Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.
I do know what an MA is. If you do a search they DO have MA's. My best friend is an MA at Holmes so I am not a complete idiot.

Health First Job Postings

Job Title: Certified Medical Assistant

Department: HF Physicians - Dr. Norris/PBCH MOB

Facility: HF Physicians

Classification: FT

Shift: Days

Job Title: Certified Medical Assistant

Department: HF Physicians - Dr. Stambolisky/CCH MOB

Facility: HF Physicians

Classification: FT

Shift: Days

MA's vs Nurses threads get very heated very quickly so please lets clarify first...

Nowhere did I say you were an idiot nor did I imply anything at all about you...

These positions for certified medical assistants are in the MOB or medical office building. The applicant is to work in a physicians private practice. They do not work within the hospital. They are employed and paid by a physician, not the hospital itself and work in the physicians office.

Certified medical assistants are specifically trained to work in physicians offices. CMAs usually handle both administrative and clinical duties and report directly to an office manager or licensed nurse.

CMA's answer telephones, greet patients, schedule appointments, arrange for hospital admission and testing services, take vital signs, prepare patients for examinations, assist the hysician during examinations, collect lab specimens, draw blood, sterilize medical instruments, prepare and administer IM or SQ injections as ordered by the physician, authorize drug refills as directed, telephone prescriptions to pharmacies, do EKG's, remove sutures, change dressings, stock exam rooms and keep exam rooms neat.

I do not have a single issue with MA's who do all of the above items. I know as many wonderful awesome professional MA's as I do bad ones. It's when they assume the role of a nurse that the problems begin.

They refer to themselves as "nurses" which is illegal and they step out of the roles they trained to do. Dispensing medical advice without a license is not only dangerous but legally and ethically wrong.

It is a dicussion of those who do step out of their scope and who do impersonate nurses, that are being discussed, not whether or not a certified medical assistant is a valuable member of the health care system. The comment was made that they now work within the hospital. This was total news to me and wanted to know about it. That's all. Good Luck with your studies.

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
I live on the other side of the state, in the SW corner. With the exception of three years, I have lived here since 1980. I have heard that LPN's would be done away with, as a class of nurses, since the early 80's. There is still a PN program at our local vo-tech, there is one in the county south of us, and one in the county north of us. So much for doing away with them. The area hospitals, LTC facilities, school districts, all still hire LPN's. Again, so much for doing away with LPN's.

I believe that the replacement of LPN's, with MA's, is limited to your area, your system. And it is an apparent attempt by your health care system to lower the cost to their system. Please remind me not to come to your area, I want to be taken care of by licensed nurses, even here in Florida.

My side of the state is a pain in the neck. When I was inquiring they weren't saying no more LPN's in the medical field, just at their locations. Nursing homes and LTC facilities still rely mostly on LPN staffing. I just knew I wanted to be in a hospital setting when I graduated so I was inquiring as to positions that would suit my end goals. Due to those conversations, I chose to go to RN school and I am happy with my choice. I agree, I don't care for the idea of MA's doing a what a truly "licensed" medical person should be doing. Another reason once I have my 1 year in I am going to try out the travel industry and get away from my area of Florida. We are thinking of coming to YOUR side of Florida, Woody!!!!

Don't come here unless your license is current, active and without blemish. And here, in Florida, that is still questionable. What the health care system is doing is highly questionable but not necessarily illegal down here.

Woody:balloons:

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Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.
MA positions are replacing LPN positions. The University I attend has an MA course and they send out 40-50 MA's every 6-8 months. Like I said, this could just be a trend in my area, but when I was considering going to LPN school I took what they people doing the hiring said to heart.

MA's are replacing LPN's in doctors offices because doctors can pay far less for what they conceive is the same job. Some doctors are clueless and/or don't mind risking their patients when their income is the only line considered.

For what it's worth I think you made the absolute right decision in going for your RN. Best of luck.

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Specializes in LTC.

In my job searches I've seen a couple of hospitals that hire CMAs. They don't seem to hire them as CMAs though. I've seen CMA certification listed as qualifications under a couple of different lab positions and occassionally an ER tech position. CMA is rarely the only qualifying education for these positions.

Actually, here in Melbourne, FL., our "Major" hospital here is called Holmes Regional. They are part of the Health First Organization. As you can see by this job posting,MA, Medical Assistants are very much a part of the hospital staff. I was told specifically by the HR and Nurse Manager, as I stated above, MA positions are replacing LPN positions, as for the reasons I posted above. The University I attend has an MA course and they send out 40-50 MA's every 6-8 months. Like I said, this could just be a trend in my area, but when I was considering going to LPN school I took what they people doing the hiring said to heart. I decided on, and am in, RN school.
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Dr's offices hire MA's because they can give us the responsibilities of a nurse and the money of a janitor. I agree, MA's are responsible for some amazing things. I am an MA, and the reason i give injections, draw blood, take x-rays, give patient test results, assist in medical procedures, call in Rx and can run an entire front office is because i was trained to do it. If i was told to do something i thought i couldnt do, I wouldnt. One great difference between myself and a Nurse is that they make 3 or 4 times more money than i do yet in a doctors office I am doing the same work. Being an MA doesnt mean you give out the wrong meds, and wrong information as some of these posts have stated. It shouldnt be "jaw dropping" or "scary". Rest assured if i didnt know how to draw blood or give injections, i wouldnt be running around poking people with needles.

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I used to teach in an MA program, and also used to work with MA's, so I know exactly what you mean. The problem is that there really is NO regulation, and everything varies by state, and often from one clinic to another. I know that in the program that I taught, I tried to teach critical thinking skills, but must admit that with most of the students being admitted to the program, it was a challenge to simply get basic medical terminology correct. I have to say that most of these schools that offer this program are more interested in the money than in the actual education, and it shows. In many cases, certification is optional rather than required. There is a national organization for MA's which offers certification, but they do little to regulate the profession, and they are not the ONLY certification available.

It makes me very angry when I hear MA's call themselves nurses (which they frequently do), and say that they do "everything a nurse does for less pay." I do have concerns about them giving medical advice, interpreting lab results without a physician, etc. I have not known MA's to work in acute settings, but have seen some work in nursing homes, which I don't feel they are trained or qualified to do. These settings require a level of assessment skills that simply is not taught in MA programs.

I don't know what the answer to this is.....if the nursing boards regulate them, then I'm sure this will add to the problem of them considering themselves nurses. But there does need to be ONE regulating body and ONE certification rather than having so many options. Can you imagine a nurse saying, "I don't want the license the board offers, so I"m going to take the test with someone else?"

I agree 100 %. I have a friend that is an MA, the things she says some times can be scary. I'm not sure the board is the answer either, but just trying to get some ideas. She was taught by other MA's ,many of the things she studied was just wrong. She studied so hard on some things that nursing school would have given us as a , here read this know it by tomarrow type thing, ( on top of the hords of other work they gave us). Besides, I really feel the school was way...tooooo....expensive for the education she obtained. Now she makes 15 $ /hr with no benifits.:o

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
Dr's offices hire MA's because they can give us the responsibilities of a nurse and the money of a janitor. I agree, MA's are responsible for some amazing things. I am an MA, and the reason i give injections, draw blood, take x-rays, give patient test results, assist in medical procedures, call in Rx and can run an entire front office is because i was trained to do it. If i was told to do something i thought i couldnt do, I wouldnt. One great difference between myself and a Nurse is that they make 3 or 4 times more money than i do yet in a doctors office I am doing the same work. Being an MA doesnt mean you give out the wrong meds, and wrong information as some of these posts have stated. It shouldnt be "jaw dropping" or "scary". Rest assured if i didnt know how to draw blood or give injections, i wouldnt be running around poking people with needles.

No, the difference between you and a licensed nurse is:

1. She has a license.

2. She/he is restricted by the Nurse Practice Act of their state in regards to what she/he can and cannot do.

3. She/he works under her/his own license and can be sued as an individual. You work for the doctor. You work under his license. While you can be named in a suit, he will be the one held responsible financially.

4. You may your own limitations, there are those MA's who do not or chose to ignore their own lack of education.

5. She/he can have a complaint filed against them at their BON. And it will be investigated. And they can be held liable for any sanctions or lose of license, unlike yourself.

Our jaws drop because so many of you seem only too willing to take chances.

Woody:balloons:

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