MAs are better than LPNs and RNs?

[SPN-RC]

I'm a student in the LPN program. I'm planning to transfer into the lpn-to-rn program after six months of working. I have a friend who is a MA and she tells me to not go into the LPN program because hospitals and clinics are getting rid of LPNs and just using MAs. She also told me that LPNs don't learn anything important. They don't know how to draw blood and can't do IVs unless they get certified. so I told her what my plans were and she told me that even when I become an RN, I will only be making $11 and I have to start out in the nursing homes. I have another friend who claims that she has a friend who is an RN. That friend is working in a nursing home and is currently making $10. To me, sounds like that friend is only a CNA, not an RN.

So I was wondering, are any of her claims true? Is she just telling me this to scare me from becoming an RN? is it jealousy? She wanted to get into sonography but wasn't accepted and she went into MA. I got accepted into Sonography but didn't go because I couldn't see myself working as a sonographer. Now, she's telling me that if I wanted to go for RN, I might as well go for MA instead because they are smarter than most RNs.

[Murse901, MSN, RN]

Temeika --

You have an MBA... a MASTER'S in Healthcare Management, and not only are you working as a CNA, but you are going into LPN school instead of bridging your education over into a BSN completion program?

I admire your... patience?

[Miwila]

Depends on where you go. Before I got into LPN school a little over 4 years ago, I looked into going to Concorde for MA (I was researching a lot of options). I was quoted $12,000 for the one year program. I doubt the price has gone down.

There are cheaper programs, especially if you can find a community college that offers it. But there are a LOT of these for-profit MA schools like Concorde that are out there promoting the MA=RN nonsense and raping misinformed consumers' bank accounts.

This is absolutely true. A friend mine was quoted between $12-14k for the MA program at Everest (not including books and supplies). This is the standard price of tuition at all of these private for-profit tech schools. In the area where I live, there are at least 3 publicly funded tech schools where you can study to be an MA for less than 1/5 of the above quoted figure. In addition to being cheaper, the publicly funded tech schools are better run, provide better training, and have a better standing in the community which helps when one is job hunting. I would bet the reason why most students pay $14k at Everest is because they simply don't know there are much better options right under their noses. And that's a shame.

[Temeika, LPN]

Temeika --

You have an MBA... a MASTER'S in Healthcare Management, and not only are you working as a CNA, but you are going into LPN school instead of bridging your education over into a BSN completion program?

I admire your... patience?

Thanks! I am being very patient. I've been rejected from BSN and ADN programs over 5 times and my first try at applying to an LPN program I get in, of course I repeated 3 course(I retook the RN level A&P I and II scored C's, and retook college algebra which I had a C in when I took it 7 years ago but got an A this go around, and I scored 89th percentile on the NLN, so I think taking RN level courses and my score on the NLN aided me in this process. It was just last year that I even considered LPN programs. I felt it would be a waste of time, but now I feel it'll prepare me to take RN courses in the future and make it slightly easier for me to bridge into an RN program. I'm hoping to join the commission corps in the Navy and work as a Nurse and get all these student loans paid off, I have 10 years to become a BSN nurse in order to make this happen, so I'm motivated.

[Conqueror+, BSN, RN]

Can anyone say hater? I've seen people like your "friend" my entire life. They love you until you get a crumb more than they and suddenly it's a problem. I have made 80k as an LPN (working like 72 hours a week but...) and I have three MAs that work UNDER me and they are all scrambling to get into the LPN program. Part of me wishes that I had gotten my RN first but I have NEVER heard a nurse say that she wishes she had gotten her MA first or instead of her LPN.

[Temeika, LPN]

This is absolutely true. A friend mine was quoted between $12-14k for the MA program at Everest (not including books and supplies). This is the standard price of tuition at all of these private for-profit tech schools. In the area where I live, there are at least 3 publicly funded tech schools where you can study to be an MA for less than 1/5 of the above quoted figure. In addition to being cheaper, the publicly funded tech schools are better run, provide better training, and have a better standing in the community which helps when one is job hunting. I would bet the reason why most students pay $14k at Everest is because they simply don't know there are much better options right under their noses. And that's a shame.

I must agree, I did the MA program at 12K at a private for profit school. Yeah, I finished in 13 months but there's a lot of B.S. that goes on there. Afterwards, it was hard getting copies of my transcript, the staff most often were unprofessional, some teachers act like they were on the streets, and it is hard getting a job, I've had 1 since my externship and it lasted only 1 month. I learned alot, but I feel I was having a hard time getting a job, and if I know what I know now, I would never went for MA, but tried for LPN instead. Now that I have applied for LPN program, I got in first try. RN is tough for me to get into but I'm going to still give it a shot later,being a MA is no longer an option for me, off to bigger and better things.

[ok2bme]

Your friend is

[msrosebud28]

Lets see I have been an LPN for roughly 7 years and make 21.92 and hour. Now that's with 4 dollar shift diff pay. But I have never made less than 16.40 an hour even when I was fresh meat off the street. I have always worked in LTC now to my my understanding in the hospital setting there is not much pay diff from CNA to LPN. Keep in mind I am in NC down south those up north make more an hour. Actually, I have a friend that just moved to Maryland doing MDS and roughly makes 60-70 grand a year. So tell your friend she is definatley ignorant to the FACTS!

[GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

Sounds like jealousy... An LPN will have a TON more options down the road compared to an MA.

[Miwila]

I was reading another blog or website recently and actually there does seem to be a consensus of opinion among MA's that they are nurses, that they know more than LPN's, should be paid as much, etc. It all smelled like jealousy to me.

[Murse901, MSN, RN]

How many LPN's claim to be Medical Assistants? How many LPN's would let it slide and not correct a patient that called him/her a Medical Assistant?

I'm guessing zero.

Jealousy? Check.

A Medical Assistant can do (almost) anything an LPN can do, in a practitioner's office ONLY. This is why they get paid less.

Another point - if MA's are "just as good" as LPN's, why is it that (in my area) an LPN can teach a CMA class, but LPN classes must be taught by an ADN or above? If an LPN can teach a CMA class, and CMA's are equal to LPN's, why can't CMA's teach LPN classes?

[work&play]

I paid $6000.00 for an MA program though Everest. I was just out of high school, and since there was a recession and was informed that MAs would take over lvns by the school's advisor, I stayed in the program.

I paid that student loan working as a teacher's aide. 17 years have passed and MAs are still not taking over LVNs.

[Miwila]

"LPN's will be phased out and replaced by MAs," is a line routinely used by for-profit vocational schools in order to sell their MA program. When nursing programs start to offer MA-to-RN bridge programs, then we'll know it's a possibility, but for the time being it's just a sales pitch.

BTW it probably cost twice as much to study Medical Assisting at Everest today.