CMA working as CNA?

Nurses General Nursing

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Well, after having the huge upset/reality check of graduating from Medical Assisting school and working in a clinic, Medical Assisting is nothing like i've imagined it to be, nor have been lead to believe.

The many days on end learning/practicing clinical skills in school slowly became simple 2 second tasks we'd have to perform just to rush out and continue paperwork. 95% of the day consists of paperwork and 5% consists of bathroom breaks and clinical skills. I wanted to do this to be able to work with patients, help patients, just spend more time with patients.

I'm already registered for school for my ASN next year, but in the meantime I feel almost disgusted at how much of our knowledge goes to waste in the setting I'm in. After deciding to put school off for next year, I tried to think of what I could possibly do to have more patient interaction and I've came to the conclusion of possibly working in a nursing home. I'd love to help out at one however I'm wondering if it'd be required to get a certification in nursing assisting or if I'd be able to apply as an MA and learn the rest of the training hands on.

Any advice would be great... I know paperwork is to be expected, but the ammount of it and the time used doing it just makes me feel like i've been cheated. I want to help as much as I can, not push papers.

Sincerely,

Worried

(Jon Jon)

Specializes in Family Practice, Mental Health.

here's a response from the other side of the united states

california;

http://www.rn.ca.gov/pdfs/regulations/npr-b-12.pdf

information provided by the medical board states that the medical assistant laws broadly define a medical

assistant as an unlicensed person who provides administrative, clerical and technical support to the physician.

the licensed physician and surgeon or licensed podiatrist is required to be physically present in the treatment

facility when the medical assistant is performing procedures.

the law prohibits the medical assistant from providing technical support services or procedures for patient care in

a general acute care hospital.

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

Well, we know for sure that these providers will not be present for each and every procedure. I found that many physicians in my area started limiting what the CMA can do; maybe something happened, who knows?

hang on there, proud....you are treading on a lot of us certified medical assistant's who are going on to be lpn's....but to report that the bon told you that they are not a legal title and should not administer meds is suspect information. not only is a medical assistant a state/national certification, but under the direction of a physician, can not only administer medication, but can remove sutures, start an i.v., dress & debreidment of wounds, remove skin tags, etc. there is a lot of clinical skills an ma has, even more so than a cna. it is true, there is no license, but an ma works under a physician, and is covered by their license, and the physician does not need to "supervise"- my m.a's have standing orders set by our physician to perform duties when he/she is not on site. this may vary from state to state, but the state board of physicians website would let anyone know the "scope of practice" for m.a.'s in that state.

as for myself, i chose to go forward and pursue my lpn because of toping out in my pay, and this was the likely path.

maybe i take offense too easily, but a career decision should be based on facts, not feelings..................so no hard feelings, just the facts :)

i think mafornow's point is that the bon has no say in the matter, they (the bon) can opine in any way they see fit, but have no jurisdiction.....

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

The BON has no say in their matter anymore than their governing body has on our practice. And, again, no one was disrespecting Medical Assistants. What seems to happen is that there is no regulation; it is not mandatory that they are certified or registered, some people are trained off of the street, some are limited in what they can do depending on the physician, etc...then, after all is said and done, many are paying exuberant tuitions and are either not financially compensated enough to repay the loans or have difficulty obtaining a position at all.

as a cma now entering my last year of my rn program, i feel the op's pain. here is my take on it.

my cma was basically worthless to me. it is a certification for a test administered by the american association of medical assistants. i'm amazed that there are actually laws governing it, there are none in my state.

it was presented to me that i would be doing nursing duties but in an office setting under a physician, by my school. what i was in reality was a precert clerk, who got lunch for doc, did his banking, stroked his ego, and picked up his drycleaning. it was said that a cma would make between $14-20/hour. i started out at $8/hour the most i ever made was $10/hour.

this is just my experience, and it's not the student's fault, it was just presented by the schools as something completely different than it actually was. i had hopes to help people as well, and my training taught me many things, but i did not use them either in a family practice setting or in a specialty practice.

when i see the students in the ma program at my community college, i feel sorry for them, because they aren't aware of the reality.

Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).

At my facility, most aides are not required to be CNAs, although a good many are. The minimum requirements, if I recall correctly, are a high school equivalent and the ability to lift fifty pounds, although most who actually get hired have some healthcare experience or at least certification--CNA, EMT, and MA all come to mind. I've known several MAs working as aides, and they've been great, but they've paid more to get their MA and work as an aide for $9/hr than I did to get my ASN. It burns me to see ads on TV inviting people to pay a fortune to train for just about the only position in healthcare that isn't in demand, but I don't know what to do about it.

Not sure about the law, but most local nursing homes require a CNA. At least one, however, will hire you and train you for certification, which seems like a pretty good deal.

Anyway, best of luck.

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

My facility seems to be the same as yours in that respect. They seemed to pick those who were already CNAs and lately, I noticed that they took on some agency CMAs as PCAs because the description was so similar to have them work in our clinics. Most of them felt that they learned more than they are allowed to do and had big loans to pay off.

Well i've come to the final decision that instead of trying and getting on the job training which is considerably hard to find but possible, I've decided to go with the Red Cross and their program. Although it is about $1,400.00, after you sign out the initial papers, an automatic scholarship is applied, reducing the price to $800, as well as offering a youth scholarship service for youths 18-21 without work. I am technically about to become unemployed after my Tempwork as a MA is finished.

I figured since school is a year away, and since I want more patient care/interaction, why not go for my CNA. Medical Assisting is great on an administrative point of view with a brush of clinical skills, but I'm just not able to help/work with patients as much as I want to. Thanks so much for everyone's input!!!!!!!!!!

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