cna to ma

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hello,

i am currently working as a CNA im thinking about going back to school for MA. My long term goal is LPN.. would it be better to just skip the MA program an just go right for LPN??? right now im looking to make a little more money then what a cna make since I have two small children an the pay isn't enough. Dose anyone have any advice??Help please:confused:

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In my city in NC, an LPN program is only one year and a Medical Assistant program is 2 years. With a Medical Assistant program you'll have a degree...but you'll also make less than an LPN, in my area at least. Here Medical Assistants are lucky if they can get $15 an hour, whereas LPNs can make $40,000 to $50,000 a year. You could get your RN in the same amount of time it would take you to do the Medical Assisting program!

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Thank you! do you need any prerequisite before going into the lpn program?

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It depends on the school, some require prereqs and some don't. Your experience as a CNA will definitely work in your favor.

Keep in mind that if you do an LPN program for one year, you would one need to go back to school for one more year after that to get your RN, and most community colleges offer an LPN to RN bridge program. It all depends on what you'd like to do, of course.

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Thanks that helps out!!I'm deffinetly going to look into LPN programs around here

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Depending on your area, MAs don't even have to be certified (in my state of Kentucky, they don't). The biggest difference between an LPN and a MA is that MAs are usually trained to do any office work as well as the medical side. In other words, they can give you a shot then bill the insurance for it on the doctor's behalf...

If you want LPN, go straight for it. You'll get a better return on your investment (higher salary) and have more job options since LPNs can work offices, LTC, hospitals, etc. and MAs are more tailored to offices.

Either way, good luck!

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Do you know if lpn have a pretty good shot at getting jobs in offices or hospitals? So many times I've heard people say that lpn are mostly only hired in Nursing homes.. i don't know how true that is

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Yes, that is true that MA is taliored to the office, but they have also worked in the hospital as nursing assistant, and the lpn have also worked as nursing assistant too, and I have had each one to complain about they were unhappy, but you can still look further into this, but just wanted you to know also that i know of some who have gone to work at insurance company i.e. Medical Mutal of Ohio.:idea:

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I work in cleveland as Maternity Service Representative, and i make that now and you'll come out just going to an two year instution than just settling for the MA or if you think an LPN is a better choice just do that program from their you can work your way up to an RN.:coollook:

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