Is it true ? Are MA's in Ohio being put uder the microscope?

[time4meRN]

So, I had lunch with my friend that is an CMA, she said that Ohio is taking away their ability to anything but office clerical work and basic CNA type duties. She said it is due to pt safety issues. Did my hopes acctually come true, is there Finnally going to be some sort of regulation !

[Nidawi]

i have a question. what exactly are the things that cma's are doing now, that they are not going to allow them to do anymore? what exactly would basic cna type duties include?

[color=#483d8b]i understand that cma's are needed sometimes. i guess my experiences with them haven't been very good, though. perhaps i'm wrong in this, but i actually have been looking for a new pediatrician for my children., because she got rid of her nurse and only has ma's now. i know some are skilled, however, these ones are not. i'm talking calling in prescriptions for children and giving them a wrong last name for the child (was actually my nephew's prescription that happened to!), putting patients into dirty exam rooms( i was taken into a room with one of my children before and there was a nasty, dirty diaper laying on the counter, juice spilled all over the chairs in there, the paper on the table not changed, cheerios all over the floor, etc. and they behaved as if this was not a problem and i had to insist on a different room that was clean. they were going to leave us in there with it like that!) it smelled so bad! throwing used needles in the regular trash cans when there are sharps boxes on the walls. no kidding! i couldn't make this stuff up!!!(we all know how curious children can be, and how not every parent will watch their child(ren) cautiously when in a medical office.) i refused to allow them to give my daughter her vaccines for school, and i took her to the county health department so the nurses there could do it. i don't trust them. the doctor will not give them herself, either. (i don't know, i would just think a pediatrician would want a nurse in their office? perhaps the doctor needs to raise her expectations of her staff, at least, or something! )

[color=#483d8b]then my sister went to her gynecologist to get the results of her biopsy, and they told her that day she had breast cancer. the ma there knew my sister (she went to their church for a while or something) and ended up going and telling all kinds of people about her having it. in less than 24 hours, someone called me to ask me if she had breast cancer, because they heard she did. so i called my sister and asked her directly. she was furious! she wanted to tell me herself. she sure did find out it was the ma, and called the doctors office! i don't know what else happened regarding that. now, i realize that was more of a "personal" type choice the ma made, and not all of them go around violating hippa laws., and that anyone in the medical profession could be like that. i guess i'm just relating some of my own experiences with them is all.

[color=#483d8b]so if anyone can help me understand better about the subject of cma's and what is not in their scope of practice (is it a state by state thing? or are all states similar regarding it?), i would appreciate it! thanks!! :)

[Mellowchick]

I have no idea what is going on in Ohio but I must say that the examples of incompetence that you portrayed actually show a lack of common sense and not a lack of education. Common sense, common courtesy, you can't learn that in school, I don't care who you are.

I'm all for more education and some sort of licensure for MA's. Bring it on! Teach us! Test us! Hold us accountable! and then... Pay us more! Where do I sign up?

[RN1989]

One could only hope that someone will step in and prevent unlicensed personnel from performing procedures outside their scope of practice. Probably won't happen though since UAPs are cheap compared a licensed nurse.

[antidote]

My outlook on medical assistants is this: I have no problem with them practicing the things that are in their scope of practice. AS LONG as they have received QUALITY education and training before practicing. I strongly disagree with doctors hiring them and giving them "on the job training" or teaching them only the things they will need to know to work at that practice.

Like it was said above, you cannot teach common sense. Additionally, if a MA is not performing duties correctly, I blame their instructor as they obviously were not clear on the procedure to perform certain tasks, and if they were clear on how to do something, they were not clear on the punishment that results in doing your job incorrectly, as it could potentially harm a patient or him/herself.

For example, one of my friends recently visited her doctor who is a very professional doctor - she works in a large medical complex with other doctors and nurses. The MA that called her into the room had no idea (she seemed to not). Apparently, she placed the BP cuff on upside down and was completely dumbfounded as to why the cage was backwards, my friend then said "maybe it's upside down?" and the MA responded "Oh no... it's on right." and after staring it down for a few seconds, she finally decided it was on incorrectly and readjusted it. Then when it came time for the exam, the MA was laying equipment up on the window sill which clearly isn't clean (I'm not saying this building was dirty, but it was a window sill vs. sterile cart and I'd choose the cart). The MA was reprimanded by the doctor for that though.

I think that example is a good combination of lack of common sense and lack of instructed knowledge. If we can somehow step up the education MA's are receiving, I think they would play a very essential roll in patient care.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I believe that many of the actions spoken about here demonstrate a lack of common sense, even more than lack of education. I am sure that the MA would not wish to be placed in a dirty room, so, why do it to a patient? And breaking HIPPA should have been something that was shared during their training. When I took the course, we had a medical ethics class that taught this. In fact, I strongly suggest that the MA and the doctor she works for should be reported because of her inconsiderate, stupid decision to announce that this poor woman had breast cancer to the world before she was ready to disclose this information.

For what it is worth, some of these same careless behaviors have also been done by licensed people.