Forced from RN to MA question

Nurses General Nursing

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I am curious if anyone has been forced as an RN to be the only MA with no training or schooling for it. I have been in psych for years and now I am in a dermatology office with a few month of experience in it. The manager refuses to train me but is mandating that I do the MA job. I dont even know how.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Specializes in Psych.

My communication skills are just fine. I haven't gotten a chance to write back. I just need to learn procedures and understanding the dermatology lingo. Which is what you need to know for mapping the part of the body being addressed. I love teaching new healthcare workers. I find that teaching here is like pulling teeth. I'll do the best I can do!! I'm a hardworking compassionate RN. Thanks for all the positive input. As for the negative go aggravate someone else!! Lol !!

2 Votes
Specializes in School Nurse, past Med Surge.
1 hour ago, klone said:

I interpreted that as "biologics" is what she was doing as an RN (and was trained for that) and now they're ALSO asking her to do MA duties, for which she does not feel she has been adequately trained. That's why I asked what specific duties they were asking her to do. I worked in clinic for several years, and the MA duties were very routine and easy to learn.

I agree. I worked in a Derm office. There was nothing, short of Mohs prep, that I felt I wasn't qualified to do just based on my RN education.

Well, I guess maybe I did brush up on all my derm terminology like how to describe rashes & stuff...

2 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
On 1/26/2020 at 10:42 AM, Jeannette said:

I was thinking of going back to school to take medical coding and billing. Also I graduated nursing school in 1997. I feel like a failure at this point.

I worked psych for years from the beginning of my career and then was able to successfully transition to other specialties. You do have to be self-directed and not rely on others to properly train you.

If you are finding yourself working in a toxic dump with no respect and low pay, then you have to find a way out. If there aren't good nursing jobs in your area, what are the crucial reasons that you stay there? Could you not cast a wider job search net and consider relocating?

If I was in your shoes I would consider a nursing refresher course to make myself more marketable before I spent money training for something ancillary. Good luck.

1 Votes
On 1/25/2020 at 10:26 PM, Jeannette said:

I am curious if anyone has been forced as an RN to be the only MA with no training or schooling for it. I have been in psych for years and now I am in a dermatology office with a few month of experience in it. The manager refuses to train me but is mandating that I do the MA job. I dont even know how.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

When I became a nurse, it was a rude awakening to learn that "techs" and MA s would often get to do what I perceived as the fun, hands-on stuff (in addition to the not so fun stuff), and I didn't know how to do what "even" they were doing. I was scared and jealous at the same time! I later moved to a place where RNs have to know how to do everyone's job, and it was a relief to learn what the assistants were doing there, get good at it,etc. It helped me in terms of delegation skills. They pay me the same - I love working as an assistant, when I do, which is not that often. All of which is to say, it's possible they want you as cross-trained as possible and maybe you can find a way to embrace it so you can get everything out of the job possible.

Of course, it's possible there's more to the story than that.

2 Votes
Specializes in Psych.

I like your advice and positivity!! Thank you!!

1 Votes
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