what the heck are medical assistant schools doing !

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm an RN, in the ER. I know of 4 people who, in my opinion have been rooked into MA (medical assistant ) schools. Each on of these people have been told that , MA , can do everything an RN can do. Not sure about you but I don't think the Cardiac Thorasic Dr's want an MA to care for a crashing patient at 2:00 am. My best freind completed an ma course, her med list MOM, TD, Botox(go figure why this is even on a med list for an ma)etc. As compaired to an RN list of inatrops, ca blockers etc..

Any one have any ideas of how to stop the practice of ma schools comparing ma 's to Rn's? :nono:

Specializes in Cardiac.
I would also take it upon myself to call the pts who were really ill at home a day or so after to check on them. If thats not a Patient Advocate, then what is!!

That's not what being a pt advocate is about! Calling a pt home after a day is nice and thoughtful, but it is not advocating.

An advocate would be me telling my phycisian that I will not give my pt sedatives for conscious sedation until he answered all of her questions properly and obtained consent (and knowing that my pt was a little hesitant, I am going to stay by her side while such consent is being obtained-and I will ask her if she has any questions when he's done). Being an advocate is calling and calling the dr to come by and see this pt. It's saying, my patient is in severe pain, I need something to give him for pain and anxiety. When he says no and hangs up, being an advocate is calling again, and then calling his attending.

I am here in this hospital as a nurse for the patient's benefit-not for the doctor. I practice under my own license that I earned and that I cherish. I can call myself a nurse without feeling the twing of guilt that some MAs must feel when they call themselves that. I say it with pride.

There are countless stories of how nurses are advocating for their pts. If being an advocate for pts was simply calling people the next day and asking them how they feel, then everybody could do it. That's what makes nurses special, and why we fight so hard to protect our title.

BTW, what would you do if your pt said they didn't feel OK, that they had certain symptoms? It frightens me that people with limited knowledge are calling pts at home and asking them how they feel. Inevitably, you (or some other MA) will come across a pt with symptoms that you do not understand or know how to deal with, and just telling them to come back in wont always work. Eventually, a pt will have an event because they thought they discussed their symptoms with the "Nurse".

Specializes in US Army.

Well said, cardiacRN2006!!!

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

>>

Hate to say it, but it happens between LPNs and RNs also. What happens here is that in some cases, LPNs, even though they have the word 'nurse' in their title may not be considered as 'real nurses' by RNs, patients, ancillary co-workers; etc... because, again, the level of training, theory and focus is different. I am proud LPN, yes, I am a NURSE, but, I would not misrepresent myself to be an RN, because our focus in nursing is different. I had many classmates that would say "They teach us the SAME things as they teach the RNs" and I staunchly say "NOT really true". While I will argue to the death that YES, I am a NURSE, there is a difference in the way that we are taught. In my school, they emphasized that LPNs are primarily involved with the Implementation part of the nursing process, and we are trained to have basic knowledge of the complications that can arise in order to inform the RN or physician.

Unfortunately, it's threads like this one here that seriously make us all look bad.

Do your job, do it well....realize that the letters behind your name don't necessarily represent your level of intelligience. There are RN's who are as dumb as lawn rocks, and without the support staff, they'd be XXX, on the other hand, there are support staff who can really make a "real" nurses' day awful.

MA's in their own right have great things to contribute. The healthcare industry is, infact a business, a "for profit" business, in some instances, MA's fill gaps better than a nurse (be it LVN or RN), simply because of wage/mp ins costs. Have you ever heard of a MA going on strike because of the union they belong to ?? I haven't. Do I feel that MA's should always be given the responsibilities of a "real" nurse (and by that I mean RN) ? Not always..no. But I'd be darned to say that I'm better than anybody else because of the letters behind my name. The term 'nurse' is used so commonly in refference to so many people, I find it amusing to see how bent out of shape people get. Ridiculous really.

BTW, I'm working on my Bachelors in Nursing...

:uhoh21:

That's not what being a pt advocate is about! Calling a pt home after a day is nice and thoughtful, but it is not advocating.

An advocate would be me telling my phycisian that I will not give my pt sedatives for conscious sedation until he answered all of her questions properly and obtained consent (and knowing that my pt was a little hesitant, I am going to stay by her side while such consent is being obtained-and I will ask her if she has any questions when he's done). Being an advocate is calling and calling the dr to come by and see this pt. It's saying, my patient is in severe pain, I need something to give him for pain and anxiety. When he says no and hangs up, being an advocate is calling again, and then calling his attending.

I am here in this hospital as a nurse for the patient's benefit-not for the doctor. I practice under my own license that I earned and that I cherish. I can call myself a nurse without feeling the twing of guilt that some MAs must feel when they call themselves that. I say it with pride.

There are countless stories of how nurses are advocating for their pts. If being an advocate for pts was simply calling people the next day and asking them how they feel, then everybody could do it. That's what makes nurses special, and why we fight so hard to protect our title.

BTW, what would you do if your pt said they didn't feel OK, that they had certain symptoms? It frightens me that people with limited knowledge are calling pts at home and asking them how they feel. Inevitably, you (or some other MA) will come across a pt with symptoms that you do not understand or know how to deal with, and just telling them to come back in wont always work. Eventually, a pt will have an event because they thought they discussed their symptoms with the "Nurse".

Last I checked NO nurse should be triaging or diagnosing ANY patient simply over the phone, and IF that's common practice in your facility, I'd hate to be a patient or employee of that place. If an illness and/or symptom of an illness warrants a call to a md/do, it's bad enough for an visit back to see the doc. End of conversation.

Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.

The term 'nurse' is used so commonly in reference to so many people, I find it amusing to see how bent out of shape people get. Ridiculous really.

The term nurse is reserved for and is the right and priviledge of LPN's and RN's who have successfully passed the NCLEX. I see nothing ridiculous about it.

Thanks cardiacRN2006 Awesome post!

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Do I feel that MA's should always be given the responsibilities of a "real" nurse (and by that I mean RN) ? Not always..no. But I'd be darned to say that I'm better than anybody else because of the letters behind my name. The term 'nurse' is used so commonly in refference to so many people, I find it amusing to see how bent out of shape people get. Ridiculous really.

Hmm, i can't imagine why that is, either......:stone

Specializes in Mental Health and MR/DD.

I have seen on commercial that said something like Want to become a nurse but don't have the time or the money for a 4 year degree, then become a Medical Assistant in 10 months (I think that was the lenghth of time they said). Now no where on the commercial did they say that an MA is like a nurse, but it made you think that they were the same thing. Also the commercial forgot to mention that there are ADN and diplomia programs out there for nursing, not just a BSN program.

I have a cousin who's going to a MA school right now. She told me basically I am going to be doing the same thing as you but getting out of school faster, lol. I couln't help but say "oh really".

Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

This is exactly the reason this thread is now 14 pages.......

The term 'nurse' is used so commonly in refference to so many people, I find it amusing to see how bent out of shape people get. Ridiculous really.

Specializes in Cardiac.
:uhoh21:

Last I checked NO nurse should be triaging or diagnosing ANY patient simply over the phone, and IF that's common practice in your facility, I'd hate to be a patient or employee of that place. If an illness and/or symptom of an illness warrants a call to a md/do, it's bad enough for an visit back to see the doc. End of conversation.

Really? What about telephone triage? What about the countless people who call the hospital and ask to speak to nurses? But, thanks for reading my post entirely before posting your response, which really has nothing to do with what I posted.

What I said, if you would read the post before jumping, is if an MA called and there were s/s of a problem, they wouldn't even know that it was bad enough for warrant a visit from a Dr. You may not believe this, but not all s/s are easy, clear, and black and white. MAs thinking they are nurses, acting like nurses, and telling others that they are nurses are playing with fire and only pts will suffer (and the nursing profession).

:uhoh21:

Last I checked NO nurse should be triaging or diagnosing ANY patient simply over the phone, and IF that's common practice in your facility, I'd hate to be a patient or employee of that place. If an illness and/or symptom of an illness warrants a call to a md/do, it's bad enough for an visit back to see the doc. End of conversation.

phone triage by an RN helps to:

1) prevent unnecessary office visits

2) get the patient the appropriate care needed (office vs urgent care vs ER vs outpatient labs, xray, etc.)

This is done based on a dialogue w/ the patient, in conjunction with the RNs background (usually critical care)

Telephone triage is necessary and very enjoyable...

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