I Quit (Long Vent)

GLORIAmunchkin72 · Feb 21, 2005

Holy Cow! If you know how to do all that why don't you become a nurse? The pay will be commensurate to the work.

Several Months ago my Doc changed office's and employer (due to unforseen circumstance over his contract) I enjoyed working with/for him and was able to move with him. I AM A MEDICAL ASSISTANT. the new employer was not able to hire anyone else to move with him and they would not have taken the nurse as she is an RN. We knew this would be a hard move, he has a very large practice with complicated patients, his practice is IM with special interest in Cardiovascular.
He moved to a very well known hospital/clinic the name of this place alone should speak of the quality of care you would recieve there. they are listed as employer of choice, most wired, ECT.
After several months of strugling I quit now I have handed in my notice, Why? I am a medical assistant, not a nurse, I can and often do work independently but come on give me a break.... at this place the medical assistants run the show, the nurses are stuck on the phones all day, with very little patient contact other than the phone, and unlike any other job i have ever had the nurse's here dont want to do what the MA is doing, I am overwhelmed giving shots, ekg's, holters, ordering cat scans, mri's, kub's, and doing all the admitting work such as calling for a bed getting the orders to the hosp. doing all the refills on meds(really the nurses dont do refills!!!!) the medical assistant does with the exception of controlled meds. those go to the Dr.I have to do ICD9 coding for labs and tests and cpt coding for the mri"s i also despence and instruct on the barium for testing, i also do the clea lab work, strep tests, ua's and blood sugars, i up date the med list the problem list and notify of labs, normal and some abnormal. and you know what those nurses will toss some phone msg's at me to top it off!!!
The medical assistants outnumber the nurses 3 to 1 in this place and they dont want to hire nurses, Pay i quess would be why!! and all of this from a nationally recognized institution....
I have asked for help begged for help to no avail,we see 20 to 25 patients a day with many level 4 and 5's thrown in there this is how they do things, and no they dont view it as a liability:angryfire
I for one do not intent to stick around to watch the walls fall in when a pateint suffers because of this situation, and just how would they protect themselfs from the fallout!
ok anyway end of the rant, I respect nurses I want a nurse who wants to supervise and help me whom i can help in return but i want to be a medical assistant and stay within my scope and let the nurse do what she is trained to do ... NURSE. and supervise her medical assistant.
I cant mention the name of the place on here (wish i could) you would be shocked!!! I wont be seeking my health care there now or in the future and my family wont go there either since i want the best healthcare for me and my family. I think they have undermined the nurse and really overutilized the ma I want a nurse involved in my care Yes i would accept a medical assistant (I am one) but i really do understand what i am and am not trained for.
I will say i am walking away having learned a lot, I now know how to do all this without having gone to nursing school and i enjoy the knowledge (I love to learn) but in order to do this unsupervised by a nurse in charge watching me and overseeing me is WRONG.:angryfire its unfair to the patients.

ImAnMa · Feb 21, 2005

Holy Cow! If you know how to do all that why don't you become a nurse? The pay will be commensurate to the work.

Because I am a medical assistant, and thats always been enough for me.

Mimi2RN, ASN, RN · Feb 22, 2005

Sounds like you have been a hardworking MA, so you may as well get paid for it.

I can understand why you are going to quit. That's a scary place to be.

LorraineCNA · Feb 25, 2005

Holy Cow! If you know how to do all that why don't you become a nurse? The pay will be commensurate to the work.

I have to jump in here on that one. Yes, she knows how to do all that. It seems to be a common misconception here that MA's are uneducated people the docs are pulling in off the street. The reality is that we're trained to do most of the "Technical" aspects of nursing plus all the front office stuff, which is why a lot of docs are moving MA's in and nurses out. They can pay us less and do away with another employee since we can do both front and back office.

Unfortunately, the moneys not great. Here in PA though, I doubt the LPN's in offices make much more. One of the biggest hospital networks in Pennsylvania only starts LPN's out at 12 something an hour and the hourly max is 15 something.

Lorraine

LorraineCNA · Feb 25, 2005

Several Months ago my Doc changed office's and employer (due to unforseen circumstance over his contract) I enjoyed working with/for him and was able to move with him. I AM A MEDICAL ASSISTANT. the new employer was not able to hire anyone else to move with him and they would not have taken the nurse as she is an RN. We knew this would be a hard move, he has a very large practice with complicated patients, his practice is IM with special interest in Cardiovascular.
He moved to a very well known hospital/clinic the name of this place alone should speak of the quality of care you would recieve there. they are listed as employer of choice, most wired, ECT.
After several months of strugling I quit now I have handed in my notice, Why? I am a medical assistant, not a nurse, I can and often do work independently but come on give me a break.... at this place the medical assistants run the show, the nurses are stuck on the phones all day, with very little patient contact other than the phone, and unlike any other job i have ever had the nurse's here dont want to do what the MA is doing, I am overwhelmed giving shots, ekg's, holters, ordering cat scans, mri's, kub's, and doing all the admitting work such as calling for a bed getting the orders to the hosp. doing all the refills on meds(really the nurses dont do refills!!!!) the medical assistant does with the exception of controlled meds. those go to the Dr.I have to do ICD9 coding for labs and tests and cpt coding for the mri"s i also despence and instruct on the barium for testing, i also do the clea lab work, strep tests, ua's and blood sugars, i up date the med list the problem list and notify of labs, normal and some abnormal. and you know what those nurses will toss some phone msg's at me to top it off!!!
The medical assistants outnumber the nurses 3 to 1 in this place and they dont want to hire nurses, Pay i quess would be why!! and all of this from a nationally recognized institution....
I have asked for help begged for help to no avail,we see 20 to 25 patients a day with many level 4 and 5's thrown in there this is how they do things, and no they dont view it as a liability:angryfire
I for one do not intent to stick around to watch the walls fall in when a pateint suffers because of this situation, and just how would they protect themselfs from the fallout!
ok anyway end of the rant, I respect nurses I want a nurse who wants to supervise and help me whom i can help in return but i want to be a medical assistant and stay within my scope and let the nurse do what she is trained to do ... NURSE. and supervise her medical assistant.
I cant mention the name of the place on here (wish i could) you would be shocked!!! I wont be seeking my health care there now or in the future and my family wont go there either since i want the best healthcare for me and my family. I think they have undermined the nurse and really overutilized the ma I want a nurse involved in my care Yes i would accept a medical assistant (I am one) but i really do understand what i am and am not trained for.
I will say i am walking away having learned a lot, I now know how to do all this without having gone to nursing school and i enjoy the knowledge (I love to learn) but in order to do this unsupervised by a nurse in charge watching me and overseeing me is WRONG.:angryfire its unfair to the patients.

Sounds like you've really "stepped up to the plate" for this place. I can understand your not wanting to step outside your scope of practice though.

The shame of the situation is that it all comes down to the almighty buck.

Lorraine

ldynwht · Feb 25, 2005

Don't know where you work, wish I did, sounds like the same place I use to work. I could go all day and never see an RN.

ImAnMa · Feb 25, 2005

Sounds like you've really "stepped up to the plate" for this place. I can understand your not wanting to step outside your scope of practice though.
The shame of the situation is that it all comes down to the almighty buck.
Lorraine

Your right it does all come down to numbers and that is a shame, because it is the patients who will suffer for that.

I did step up to the plate but i have always done that however i did it for the Dr and the patients that i care so very much for not this place. Tue will be my last day and i go back to a place that will pay me same and allow me to spread my wings under the quidence of a nurse... since i am an MA thats the way i prefer it and really i feel thats the way it should be.

ImAnMa · Feb 25, 2005

Don't know where you work, wish I did, sounds like the same place I use to work. I could go all day and never see an RN.

I have not seen an RN since starting at this place, quess they dont want to pay them... the charge nurse is an LPN which is ok if she would take charge, myself i think she needs to be replaced. she is more of a cheerleader and moral booster kind of person instead of leading the pack.

GLORIAmunchkin72 · Feb 25, 2005

I am glad that you finally made a decision (becoming an MA). A while back, on another forum, a few of us were kind of deciding what to do next. I became a Q. Regarding this matter: I respect knowledge and know-how no matter what the title. I don't believe anybody should be belittled if they are doing their best in their chosen field.

I have to jump in here on that one. Yes, she knows how to do all that. It seems to be a common misconception here that MA's are uneducated people the docs are pulling in off the street. The reality is that we're trained to do most of the "Technical" aspects of nursing plus all the front office stuff, which is why a lot of docs are moving MA's in and nurses out. They can pay us less and do away with another employee since we can do both front and back office.
Unfortunately, the moneys not great. Here in PA though, I doubt the LPN's in offices make much more. One of the biggest hospital networks in Pennsylvania only starts LPN's out at 12 something an hour and the hourly max is 15 something.
Lorraine

LorraineCNA · Feb 27, 2005

I am glad that you finally made a decision (becoming an MA). A while back, on another forum, a few of us were kind of deciding what to do next. I became a Q. Regarding this matter: I respect knowledge and know-how no matter what the title. I don't believe anybody should be belittled if they are doing their best in their chosen field.

Became a "Q"?

I really wanted to go for LPN but the nearest school to me was 45 minutes for the classes, farther for clinicals. With kids still at home and the weather here in the winter (PA) I couldn't see how I could pull off leaving home at 5 a.m. to get to a 7:00 clinical in the winter.

Ah...well. We'll see how it goes. I have one more month of classes and 2.5 of externship.

I just like coming here to pick up the knowledge that flows abundantly. Maybe someday they'll come up with a CNA/CMA bridge program somewhere...I can always dream.

Thanks for remembering. )

LorraineCNA · Feb 27, 2005

Became a "Q"?
I really wanted to go for LPN but the nearest school to me was 45 minutes for the classes, farther for clinicals. With kids still at home and the weather here in the winter (PA) I couldn't see how I could pull off leaving home at 5 a.m. to get to a 7:00 clinical in the winter.
Ah...well. We'll see how it goes. I have one more month of classes and 2.5 of externship.
I just like coming here to pick up the knowledge that flows abundantly. Maybe someday they'll come up with a CNA/CMA bridge program somewhere...I can always dream.
Thanks for remembering. )

oops, that was supposed to be :)

Lorraine

CNA

almost MA