MA or LPN???

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Jan 29, 2006

okay..i just found a college but they dont offer LPN/LVN classes, instead they have Medical Assisting....which i don't mind getting into... i have a pretty good idea of what an MA does, but as far as getting into an RN program with an background, will it help?? Also, does which one gets paid more?? ...the reason i ask is that I will be working my way to pay for college, so ..you know how it goes...:-)

Any medical experience is good. Although medical assistants work in an office setting you still learn a lot. I am a CCMA-C right now as I go through school. I plan on becoming a CNM so I am already use to the office environment. You learn about a lot of the drugs that they do not really prescribe much in the hospital (anti-depressants, birth controls, sleep-aids, allergy meds, G.I. meds etc) and you do learn a lot of clinical stuff. As sign from the regular collection of vital signs and the cheif complant, I draw blood, give shots, remove stitches, removed casts as well as aid in the application of them, assist with sigmoidoscopys, pap smears, CPE's (complete physicals) , I do about 90% of DMV physicals myself., EKG's and the list goes on. And since you spend a great deal of your time calling in Rx's you get familiar with both name brand and generic drugs. I work for a family practice so I do a lot of referrals to specialist and make appointments for other things at the hospital like x-rays, upper-GI's, MRI's etc, etc, ect....you get to learn a lot of diagnosis's, and even though I am not aloud to Dx myself, it if fun to guess what they patient has and then check what the doctor Dx'd to see if you were right. I got a pat on the back the other day for finding an atrial-fib on an older man that the doctor would have not caught since he was not in for any related reason.

I love my job as a medical assistant but it did not take long for me to feel stagnent, I knew I had to further my medical career and am going full board for my MSN and CNM. Good luck with what ever you decide to do.

pnaya · Jan 29, 2006

any medical experience is good. although medical assistants work in an office setting you still learn a lot. i am a ccma-c right now as i go through school. i plan on becoming a cnm so i am already use to the office environment. you learn about a lot of the drugs that they do not really prescribe much in the hospital (anti-depressants, birth controls, sleep-aids, allergy meds, g.i. meds etc) and you do learn a lot of clinical stuff. as sign from the regular collection of vital signs and the cheif complant, i draw blood, give shots, remove stitches, removed casts as well as aid in the application of them, assist with sigmoidoscopys, pap smears, cpe's (complete physicals) , i do about 90% of dmv physicals myself., ekg's and the list goes on. and since you spend a great deal of your time calling in rx's you get familiar with both name brand and generic drugs. i work for a family practice so i do a lot of referrals to specialist and make appointments for other things at the hospital like x-rays, upper-gi's, mri's etc, etc, ect....you get to learn a lot of diagnosis's, and even though i am not aloud to dx myself, it if fun to guess what they patient has and then check what the doctor dx'd to see if you were right. i got a pat on the back the other day for finding an atrial-fib on an older man that the doctor would have not caught since he was not in for any related reason.
i love my job as a medical assistant but it did not take long for me to feel stagnent, i knew i had to further my medical career and am going full board for my msn and cnm. good luck with what ever you decide to do.

tnx alot.. i am still in a process of searching a program that will suit my interest......it is soo frustrating..it's like , one day you find something you really like and then the next day you'll see other things that sounds better...and then you think to urself, "should i go for this one instead?"