LVN or Medical Assistant??

[Len456]

Okay, so my situation is that I'm currently 22yrs old and am unsure of whether I should go into lvn or ma. My situtation is that when I was in high school I took a CNA course and got my certification but never looked for a job after. From that experience, I found out that I like everything about nursing and am okay with the aspects of bathing patients and cleaning their poop and enjoy aspects of bedside care but I feel really uncomfortable when a patient masturbates in front of me or starts to get violent which I experienced a bit during my cna clincals. Right now, I really want to go to lvn school but I want to be able to work in a doctors office or in a hospital becuase I think that I can't handle certain situations that are frequently encountered in nursing homes. Other than that, I have been working as a cashier for a year now and want to get started on a career. Should I take a medical assistant course at a community college and see if I could find a job in a docs office and than get into a part time lvn program so that I would have a better chance of getting hired into a doctors office setting or should I just go straight into a full time lvn program? Or, should I just settle with being an ma because I know that they to provide some care to patients as well? And, I already know that the pay will be differen't but I am not really concerned about making alot of money but just want to do something that I will enjoy. Any advice??

[caliotter3]

Job opportunities and the chance for advancement to RN are better for an LVN than for an MA. If you want to take the chance that you will be able to find a job at all, go with the MA course. But if you want a better opportunity to be working anywhere, at all, then get a nursing license. LVNs can take jobs that are also offered to MAs, but the reverse is usually not true.