MA?? any out there

crisscross · Jun 16, 2006

Oh boy, be prepared for the comments you're about to get. MA's are not well received on this site.

On the other hand, I will tell you that my experience as an MA has been wonderful. I have never been made to feel inferior by any nurse that I have worked with. Honestly though, if I had it to do over again, knowing what I know now, I would go to nursing school instead. An MA doesn't have the same knowledge, experience, and most definitely not the pay!

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jun 16, 2006

I'm not going to trash MAs because I am always impressed by the MAs I have contact with in my various doctor's offices. Also, I taught medical terminology and coding in an MA program. However, not to be discouraging to you, but if you are ultimately wanting to get into nursing I suggest you pursue that. There are more MAs than MA jobs that are available. You may find it very difficult to get a job. Then, again, your school might assist you in getting hired. Best of luck to you.

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Jun 16, 2006

Welcome to the site! I worked as an MA at one point and it was a great experience. I learned a lot and really had a sense of satisfaction that pushed me to continue within healthcare.

Although some of us might not be able to give you current first-hand advice about medical assisting like you would find on an MA message board, many of us do have previous experience as MA's. I think you certainly won't find many of us passing judgment about your knowledge, experience, or pay simply because you're a medical assistant or medical assisting student.

As the previous poster suggested, sometimes posts from MA's have not been well-received. It's not that anyone hates medical assistants though. Usually in those posts the MA has either: 1) made some goofy claims - for example, that they're allowed to prescribe meds and perform physical exams, or 2) insisted that they're 'really a nurse' or 'just like a nurse' and should be paid like a nurse since they 'do all of the same stuff.' As I'm sure you understand, the members of any profession are proud of how hard they work for their degrees, so these issues make people feel a little territorial. As long as you avoid pressing one of these two buttons, I'm sure you can have a pleasant experience here.

Please don't hesitate to stop by and participate in the discussions here. Again, welcome aboard.

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Jun 16, 2006

HI! I am currently a CMA and have been since 2002. I really do love my job, and although I will start nursing school in the fall, I quickly learned after working as an CMA that it just was "not enough for me" and I do not mean to be a nurse either. I want to see my own patients, give my own DX and write my own RX's. Having worked for an FNP as well as MD's I found that the NP route is best for me and my ultimate goal is to become a CNM and maybe one day also an FNP.

Some one else mentioned that they wished that they skipped the Medical Assisting and went straight to nursing. I however, do not regret my being a CMA. I have learned a lot and I have gotten a lot of experience. I believe everything happens for a reason. I became and CMA because I had been wanting to be a "baby doctor" since I was a little kid. I have always heard of people going to school for years to only find out they hate the profession. The Medical Assisting program at my college was only one year and I figured it to be a great way to get my feet wet and find out if I really wanted to work in the medical field. It worked and I love it. Like I said, I believe everything happens for a reason. The FNP I worked for continued to encourage me to become a nurse, and would always make comments like "and that's why you are going to be a great nurse..." I turned 21 durning my Medical Assisting program...what if I had done nursing first and hated it? After all, I was dealing with a family death and a fairly new marriage among a few things, maybe nursing and nursing school would have been too much for me at the time. I still was not sure what I was going to do with my life. After a few months as a CMA I watched the birth of my MIL's twins (yeah oops) and became romanticized by birth. I new that I did not want to be an O, but when I read a book about midwives I re-grew my "baby delivering" roots. I had known previously that I wanted to become a nurse, and after the death of my brother in law, who literally died in front of me, I thought I would become a surgical nurse. (I always had the 'what if' I had already been a nurse and could have pinched that femoral artery... would he still be here? The what if's can keep you up and night and drain your soul.) But after I watched those two babies come out there was no doubt in my mine, and there has never been since in the last four years, that I want to become a Midwife.

My time as a CMA, current and in the past, has never been a waste. As far as finding a job, that does not seem to be a problem; in my area at least. The worst down fall for the Medical Assisting profession is the pay. I have been at my job since before I graduated and I still only make $9/hr (although they are talking about giving me a raise)

I do not want to tell you that if you plan on becoming a nurse to just forget about medical assisting and go straight to nursing. I have loved my time as a medical assistant. The medical assisting programs (in my area) do not have waiting lists, although the nursing programs do. Why not be a medical assistant, get some experience and work while you are on a waiting list, because it is a good chance these days that you will be on one. What every you decide to do, the best of luck.

Feel free to IM me if you have any questions.

jewelz78 · Jun 16, 2006

Well everything im hearing is all about the patcients and i am so glad there are so many out there that are able to care for others but that was not how the college explained it to me i think my interests lie more in the field of lab work. And so with that I think labtechnician is what im going to pursue but boy am I glad i got on this board the college explained this as more of a tech type position and I am so much more of a biologist type person that humanitarian atleast as far as person to person I would much rather deal with specimens than humans lol but thank you so much ladies for your input i almost made a big mistake

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Jun 16, 2006

See if any local schools have a medical laboratory technician (MLT) program. That might be a good start for you to get into laboratory work.

JentheRN05, RN · Jun 16, 2006

I have scattered views on MA's. I work in a doctors office currently. One of our MA's tells the patients/ or implies that she's a nurse. That really REALLY irks me. I AM an RN and I AM the nurse in the office. But many a patient have come to me to ask 'the nurse' (AKA the MA) some questions. She is a wannabe nurse truly. She doesn't ever disagree that shes a nurse, and in fact when patients call the office to talk to the nurse, they end up talking to her. Go figure.

On the other hand, the other MA in the office is very capable, my job would be very difficult without her. She is a hard worker but also knows shes not a nurse and wouldn't in her wildest dreams try to act like one. She sends all questions she cannot answer to me.

I am NOT downplaying MA's please don't get that idea. Just keep in mind one thing, MA does NOT equal RN. So please don't try to do that. If you want to be a nurse, then go to school for nursing. In my opinion it is the best field of them all :)