At my job, we are offered classes each month for our CEU's as LNA's. We were at one the other day for some psych training, and we were asked what we wanted to be doing in 5 years. Myself and another woman said that hopefully we be all graduated and working as RN's, since we're both in nursing school.
Another woman said that she was graduating next week from an Medical Assistant program, and how it was "exactly the same as being an RN", but she got her degree faster, but won't get the same money (and she proceeded to b!tch about that).
Now, I've seen the debate here in the General Nursing discussion, but this just chapped my rearend. I think MA's are great - as are LNA's and LPN's and RN's and everyone that works in healthcare. A friend of mine is an MA, but she does not pass herself off as a nurse. Another friend is a Surgical Tech, and while she doesn't say she's an RN, her son calls her a nurse, saying his mom told him she did "more" nursing in the OR than the nurses do. I've corrected him twice about it, but don't anymore. It just bugs me that I'm busting my hump to become an RN, yet anyone that works in healthcare feels they can call themselves one.
I'm so careful, I don't even call myself an SN while at work, and don't call myself an LNA while in clinical!
I don't know why people can't be proud of what they are. Some of the best tips and knowledge I've gotten on the job has been from the LNA's, many of which are career LNA's. THey're damn good at what they do! It's bothersome that some feel it all comes down to you're either a nurse, or have to claim to be one to be recognized.
Anyway, I kept my mouth shut when this LNA/MA was going off, but I so wanted to say, "So if you're the same as an RN, why won't the hospital or the state recognize you as one? Why? Because you aren't. You may as well call yourself an astronaut. You aren't one of those either!"
Okay, back to the regularly scheduled programming.
* A nurse is way more flexible than a MA beside having the ability to work in a hospital. A nurse can work on a cruise ship, can work in a law office (nursing attorney), can work with computer systems (nursing informatics), can even be a cop (certain type of forensic nursing), can work in camp, in school, with drugs companies, with libraries, with researchers, with insurance companies... nurses are there at the beginning of birth to the end of life and everthing in between. Nurses are like bateria, they are everywhere! The difference between nurses and bateria is that we don't have a shortage of bateria.
It is very serious to represent yourself falsly as a nurse, in fact it is against the law and carries serious consequences when reported. I think that every time we hear or see someone call themself a nurse, when they are not, we should remind that it is illegal to impersonate a registered nurse. that might make them rethink their lying ways...
At least in California, the term "nurse" is a protected title. You can be charged with practicing nursing without a license if you refer to yourself as such.
Nurse to me is not a medical assistant or a nursing assistant.
Im a Nursing Assistant and when patients call me nurse i clarify to them that im just a nursing assistant.
SCOPE OF PRACTICE is the word that im thinking of here....
Do these MA's know that legally if they are calling themselves nurses they can be SUED as a Nurse?
When i took my CNA class, i was still working in the front office of a primary care office and I remember informing the office manager and one of the Doctors that i was friends with that the MA's shouldnt be calling themselves Nurses because it was misrepresentation. They fully agreed and informed the MA's they are not to refer to themselves as Nurses. (of course one of them had a problem and still called herself a nurse, while others refused to refer to themselves as a nurse even before i mentioned it because they already knew the difference *smart girls* or boys haha)
Medical Assistants go to school (here in AZ) for about 10 months and learn the specific skills needed in a DR office. Injections, blood pressure etc. They are paid (in my experiences with MA's) 8-12 dollars an hour. Doctors prefer to hire them because they can do the procedures done in Dr offices and they are cheaper to hire than nurses.....
Nurses work hard to get their title of LPN or RN. I dont think it's fair for someone who goes to school for 10 months for a certificate (which is how long it takes here) to be calling themselves one.
Now if I have offended anyone I didnt mean to. This is what i was taught in my classes.
It always bothered me to hear an MA call herself a Nurse. I worked in the Back office as a on the job trained MA and did everything except injections and never called myself a nurse and i can tell you from experience it is NOT THE SAME THING.
I am about to start my last semester in a BSN program. I worked as a MA for almost seven years. Trust me, there is no comparison! I knew a lot about obstetrics and gynecology only because this is the type of office I worked in. I completed a 10 month program where we learned LIMITED A&P, phlebotomy, injections, and administrative duties. We learned to take vitals, but not really to interpret those values. I often felt as if I was trying to be used in a nursing role without the knowledge I needed. However, I always represented myself as an assistant and not a nurse. And I certainly did not pocess the assesment skills and critical thinking that a R.N. has!
I really think that there is a place for medical assistants in the field, as there is a place for nurse's assistants.
As I said before, they are not the same thing.
Also, why in the world would anyone go to school for 2 years to be a medical assistant??? Mine was only 9 months. Two years of school isn't worth 8 bucks an hours.....sorry, no way, no how.
Under section 301.251(d)(1) of the (Texas) Nurse Practice Act...
(d) Unless the person holds a license under this chapter, a person may not use, in connection with the person's name:
(1) the title "nurse"; or
(2) any other designation tending to imply that the person is licensed to provide nursing care.
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Rosa2Little
145 Posts
Thanks for the chuckle!