Doctor's office and "nurses"

Published

Just a little rant... was wondering if anyone else has experienced this...

Called my doctor's office to see if I could get something called out for a returning ear infection. They transferred me to the "nurse." Long story short, this person is not a LVN or a RN, they are a medical assistant.

Does this bother anyone else?

Isn't this a little shady, calling people nurses who aren't?

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I work with several CMAs in my hospital clinic. Hiring CMAs is new to this facility. I respect the people I work with- no matter their credential. Once again I give credit to Pagan for clarifying the SOP for me last spring when we hired our first CMAs.

The dissention felt here comes from feelings of working long and hard toward a goal and finding out that certain people consider the certification they hold equal to a LPN or RN.

I AM NOT SAYING ANYONE ON THIS THREAD HAS IMPLIED THIS! But there have been threads where CNAs and CMAs have implied that they feel the certification they hold "almost makes them an LPN" etc.

I firmly believe that CMAs SHOULD have a state license as certified nurse assistants do. This is not happening because physicians and hospitals have not made a stink about this. For what CMAs get paid at my hospital...I wouldn't do the job. Most are in nursing school and using this experience to their advantage.

Certified Nurse Assistants are certified not licensed although they must take a STATE test. They are held to the standerds set by the state they practice in.

Certified Medical Assitants are Nationally Certified. If they move to another state the certification they hold goes with them. As in the case of a male CMA who came to us from Seattle.

On a side note-my hospital uses NAs. Nursing assitants that are not certified by the state but are trained in a 3 month hospital program. Go figure.....they are cheaper for the hospital!

I also believe that they should be state certified and regulated across the United States. And many times, Patient Care Associates are trained by the hospital we work for. Most of the clerks were mandated to either become PCAs or hit the door. I think this is unfortunate, because since PCAs are not certified, either, it sort of traps them to the place that gave the training.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

shelly304, I agree with you that CNAs are "certified" not licensed by their state and then I had a poster here show me that in their state (can't remember which state is was), CNAs had a "license" number to look up for verification. As I remember, however, that state calls nursing assistants CNAs (certified nursing assistant) and not LNAs (licensed nursing assistants. Potato vs potahto? Perhaps.

What I do know is I DO have a license and I AM responsible for nursing assistants. If that makes me petty then color me protective of my license.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
shelly304, I agree with you that CNAs are "certified" not licensed by their state and then I had a poster here show me that in their state (can't remember which state is was), CNAs had a "license" number to look up for verification. As I remember, however, that state calls nursing assistants CNAs (certified nursing assistant) and not LNAs (licensed nursing assistants. Potato vs potahto? Perhaps.

What I do know is I DO have a license and I AM responsible for nursing assistants. If that makes me petty then color me protective of my license.

Tennessee is the same way. If you look under our Dept of Health website, a CNA listing will show a profession, "Nurse Aide," Rank, "Nurse Aid" (difference in spelling is theirs, not mine), license number, status (active or inactive), date of original licensure, and expiration date.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Just to clarify, I never said they couldn't give them, I said that when they did so, they work under the license of a physician.

I have never seen a state that "certified" medical assistants. The "school" does (by whatever criteria that they set), but that MA's are not a legally regulated profession in any state (which means there would be a STATE license, state board, etc).

For example, a CNA is a certified nursing assistant. They take a state board, they have a scope of practice, they get a license issued to them by the state. They are 100% responsible for anything that they do, so if they make a mistake, it's their license that they lose.

That isn't the case with MA's. Legally, they don't have to have a certification at all, a physician can choose to train them directly, again, b/c they work under the license of the physician.

Oh, I see. By your use of the word "even" I thought that you believed CMA's were not trained to or allowed to give injections.

Medical assistants can be certified through the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). It is a nationally recognized credential. I have never heard of a "school" certifying a medical assistant.....that sounds shady.

I do know, however, that medical assistants are under no standardized regulation and am aware that they do not need to be certified. Obviously there needs to be standardized educational requirements and a governing certifying/licensing board in order to ensure patient safety.

Oh, and I thought that CNAs were certified, not licensed.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg.

MA's can even get an associates degree in medical assisting. Talk about throwing your money away. They don't have to be certified but can take a National certification test which basically means nothing and doesn't give them any edge over any other MA. Again throwing good money away. Those schools have to have money to run all those commercials.

"You too can become a part of the challening and rewarding field of healthcare"

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The hospitals I have worked for in this area...

Require CNAs to have certification - it's the law.

MAs are not hired by the hospitals I've worked at unless they have certification. In this state, they learn the skills of a CNA, basic phlembotomy, as well as office and medical coding stuff -- but just the basics. Enough to be "assistants."

And anyone who is not certified is called an "Associate." Example, Behavioral Health Associate. However, advanced education is usually required, and they work under the guidance of an RN.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

"My own personal career goal is to eventually get my DNP as an NP. If I obtain this, I believe I should be addressed as, "Dr. Smith""

I agree with this - IF the NP is a PhD, not a master's degree holder. All PhDs go by "doctor" (remember your college psych teacher who got soooo mad at the label 'professor'? :) )

However, I do not believe that an NP with a master's should be called doctor - because they are not a doctor. They are a nurse practitioner.

Further, I appreciate how the office I used to work at did it - they explained what a nurse practitioner was (versus misconceptions) - when scheduling that appointment, if the patient had any concerns. And actually, our NP was often busier than some of our doctors.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

At a staff meeting our DON and ADON gently inisted that from now on we call our CNAs care NURSES instead of nursing assistants. They said it fostered equality and self esteem. Now we have 300 pts asking are you the medicine nurse or the care nurse? My nephew is 17 and went to school from July 28th to August 25th PART TIME FROM 5P-9p MON-THU and youre clumping us together to foster equality ? WTH? Im sorry but I hate this and its not right. They wonder why insubordination is suddenly spiking. Its because you're destroying the chain of command and acting as though we're the same. Ugghhhh I was a CNA until I went back to school and was an LPN until I went back to school. THATS how it should work. Stop rewarding people for doing nothing.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion