CPR certification

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Specializes in Medical Assisting.

Hi everyone, my name is Amy and I work as a Medical Assistant for an internist. I have been "delegated" to the front office, which I don't care for, but know the clinical skills necessary to assist the doctor and take care of patients in office. I even went so far as to obtain my Associate's degree...We are a very small office employing only 7 people, which counts in the doctor. I found out that he is only paying for the two MA's in the back to get CPR certified IN OFFICE because "that's all that is required is 2 people" to be certified in CPR. I am studying to get into nursing school for RN. what do y'all think of this? I'm ready to leave anyway, but I just want to know others' opinion on this matter. I feel that this is very wrong.

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Huh. Hmmm. The office I worked for (managed) we were small and everybody got paid CPR. It would be wise for him to have ya all trained.

Special note: your doc will really, really, really want to be sure you can all dial 911 if someone drops, trust me.

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You should have been certified long before you enrolled in med alassistant course.

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Specializes in Army Medic.

Out here a CPR cert runs about $30 through local community colleges, and is easy as pie to get.

To re-cert is even easier, I usually call up a friend of mine who takes care of the Fire Dept.'s re-certs and get the paperwork filed by him without even displaying a skills test.

Stop and think, is $30 worth your job? When you work in small businesses, you can expect the owners to be penny pinching aholes - that's the way it goes. If you want totally fair treatment, you need to get into a field that has unions - promoting equality across the board.

I can understand that it sucks having a Dr. show preferential treatment, but the negligible cost of a CPR cert does not outweigh having work in an economic crisis.

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I would keep up your cert. anyway, so it is one less thing to do in school. It is not too expensive through the Red Cross or other agencies.

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Specializes in Hospice & Palliative Care, Oncology, M/S.

I agree that it might be best to get your CPR anyways, as you're planning on entering RN school. :) It's a few hours, not horribly expensive, and just one more certification to have under your belt.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Good grief! You're quibbling over the doc not paying for your CPR??? You will need it for nursing school anyways, so what's the big deal? I just don't understand what your problem is.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Yes - by all means, get & keep your CPR cert. But be sure you choose American Heart, NOt Red Cross. AHA is the standard for most schools & hospitals. It is also the pre-requisite for all advanced life support courses (ACLS, PALS, etc)

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Specializes in SICU.

It is my understanding that MA's are trained for both front office and back office work. You have been given the front office. Believe it or not but a Doctors office is a business. He/She needs to make enough money to pay the rent, pay the staff, pay him/her self. It is not their to pay for things that you want to do but the office does not need.

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Specializes in Medical Assisting.

I was just trying to find out if it was normal for dr's to not pay for all the staff, even in a small office. I know that they can be frugal tightwads, trust me I've been there for 5 years. I'm not quitting because of the cpr class...I should be thankful that I have a job (and I am to a certain degree), but I have 2 people in the office ready to go to him for every little thing I do that could even construed as wrong (even if they have to lie to do so). I just think it's time to move on and I'm really regretting sharing this in this way on this forum. Still enjoy it though because I find lots of useful information and some of the stories are encouraging and some downright hilarious! Next time, I think I'll just read and not post anything.

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Specializes in L&D; GI; Fam Med; Home H; Case mgmt.
I was just trying to find out if it was normal for dr's to not pay for all the staff, even in a small office. I know that they can be frugal tightwads, trust me I've been there for 5 years. I'm not quitting because of the cpr class...I should be thankful that I have a job (and I am to a certain degree), but I have 2 people in the office ready to go to him for every little thing I do that could even construed as wrong (even if they have to lie to do so). I just think it's time to move on and I'm really regretting sharing this in this way on this forum. Still enjoy it though because I find lots of useful information and some of the stories are encouraging and some downright hilarious! Next time, I think I'll just read and not post anything.

Don't get upset - people tend to be very blunt online because they aren't face-to-face with the person with whom they are speaking. Don't let it get to you.

Just a little info - I work in a family practice office (about the same size as yours) and the MAs know WAY more than I do about everything there (and I'm an RN). They do EVERYTHING, including radiology, phlebotomy, even IV infusions of Reclast (which they're not legally supposed to do but the Dr. lets them) - immunizations, vision screens, hearing screens, EKGs, YOU NAME IT! I am amazed at what the MAs do, and how little they are paid. Now mind you, I can place an NG tube and other stuff they've not learned but that hardly helps me in the doc's office!

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Specializes in Army Medic.

5 years is a good amount of time to have logged into an office - could you not talk to the Doctor about it yourself?

I don't think anyone here was trying to put you down, but you can't expect the same reaction from strangers as you would get from friends.

When it comes down to it, the advice you get over the internet is neutral, unbiased truth...or it's from those crazy people that like to incite hate and controversy.

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