Medical Assistants being called nurses

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  1. Are you comfortable with MAs calling selves Nurses?

    • 56
      Are you receiving info in your MDs office from an MA who says they are Nurse?
    • 29
      Is it self to pose as a nurse if you are an MA in MD offices
    • 66
      Why are MDs allowing MAs to pose as nurses
    • 101
      Why is it not being addressed by BNE that MAs can not identify as Nurses
    • 31
      Who should give you diagnostic info if not md an MA?

13 members have participated

I have serious concerns about Md offices hiring medical assistants and calling themselves nurses. They are given diagnostic results and education to pts, but identify as nurses . I have had the experience and new immediately that I was not speaking to a nurse ended up calling 911 b/c the md would not return call, the MA was uncomfortable taking note to md and I was a post op pt. I am RN of 28yrs and out of 7 providers only one hires licensed nurses, were name badges. These other offices refer to the MAs as nurses and really have not seen this address. How long would it take if I said I was an md in an office before it would be addressed as a very serious matter? I think it is perfectly fine that Mds want to hire MAs, but is it ok that they say they are nurses and they are doing nursing duties? How comfortable are you with not knowing who is talking to you at the mds' office? I know it is not legal so why is this not a serious concern?

What should the medical office helper who is not a Certified Medical Assistant call herself?

Medical assistant

Medical assistant assistant

Office assistant

Office nurse

Office helper

Blood pressure checker

overworked and underpaid

I just can't think of an appropriate title.

I was the Medical assistant and was called the Medical Assistant.

The girl up front was called the receptionist or front office assistant.

Our girl that did all the billing was called the biller.

Our manager was called the Office manager.

Is that what you are referring to?

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I am a medical assistant turned RN...so all this is very interesting to me.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
What should the medical office helper who is not a Certified Medical Assistant call herself?

Medical assistant

Medical assistant assistant

Office assistant

Office nurse

Office helper

Blood pressure checker

overworked and underpaid

I just can't think of an appropriate title.

Were you referring to my post? If so, my answer would be that my post wasn't about what someone calls themselves, but what someone else takes it upon themselves to tell the patients who her co-worker has either told she was a nurse or heard a patient refer to as a nurse. "We are all medical assistants here" is not entirely accurate. I worked at a place where a receptionist worked for an internal medicine doc for long enough that she called herself a nurse. She was, in fact a receptionist. People can come into outpatient environments as former CNAs, phlebotomists, or surgical techs as well.

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.

No offense intended.

Seriously, what is the correct job title for a medical office employee who is not an RN, CMA or LPN? How should he or she identify him/herself? It has to be awkward when he or she has no certification or license.

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No offense intended.

Seriously, what is the correct job title for a medical office employee who is not an RN, CMA or LPN? How should he or she identify him/herself? It has to be awkward when he or she has no certification or license.

I don't know the answer to your question, but it wasn't until this post that I understood what it is that you were asking.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
No offense intended.

Seriously, what is the correct job title for a medical office employee who is not an RN, CMA or LPN? How should he or she identify him/herself? It has to be awkward when he or she has no certification or license.

None taken . . the lack of consistency from one state to another on things like this makes it hard to answer. In some states it has a specific meaning and in others it's intentionally (in my view) left very vague so providers can have a free hand delegating tasks to someone paid less than a nurse would be without a scope of practice hemming them in.

In practice, the titles will depend on the state and what the employer called the position when they advertised for it. In my state, for example, no certification is required but most MAs have gone to some sort of training. In that training they learn to do some things nurses don't typically do, such as take X-rays. So, informally calling a nurse a medical assistant could give the impression he or she knows how to do what is usually included in those programs when they don't.

I've always said Medical Assisting is a fine career choice on it's own, it is just not nursing. I hope that's a little bit clearer than mud!

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Ok. There is nothing wrong with being a Medical Assistant. If you got there by taking classes, great. If you got there by being medical corpsman in the military, even better. Be proud to be a MA. But as a nurse, I am not going to call myself a Medical Assistant, just as I would never call myself a Physician's Assistant or a Nurse Practitioner, if I did not study and take exams to certify my level of knowledge. MAs who live in states where they can just say they are a MA without licensing and/or certification are playing with fire because these are often the practices who do not have a nurse on hand- and the MD is too busy to help a "MA" understand the implications of their decisions. Be a MA - be proud and work up to the limits of your training. But don't call yourself a MD or a RN.

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Specializes in Peds(PICU, NICU float), PDN, ICU.

Someone mentioned MA programs that are two years. But a year of that is pre-reqs and the other year, they learn some skills but they also learn office skills and insurance/billing. As nurses, we don't learn or typically do insurance/billing. So they are valuable in their own way. But they should never use our title since they haven't earned it.

Don't like being a medical assistant? Quit telling people you're a nurse and go to school for it...simple. The BON and states need to crack down on this and also need to educate the public. An MA that lies or offers medical advice is dangerous and I don't think the public is aware of how dangerous this is. I've had MAs that believe old wives tales are real and pass it along as advice. That's just scary.

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This has been addressed matter of factly with 3 of my providers there wasn't a clear response about. I did fire my pcp's office bc seveal months after addressing this with her and letting her know that i did not want her MA calling to give me diagnostic info. Of course it hppened where i got an abnormal MRI report and the Ma attempted to read the reults, "bulge on c6-c7 and dr. E wants you to go to spinal surgery center. I asked to speak with dr. Because i had a number of questions and had previous bothched surgeries that made me know i would not be going to any referral especially until all my questions were answered.

My first question was why would i be sent to surgery center and not been seen by my physical med(ortho) before being sent to surgery center.

Informed by MA that dr. was on vacation for 10 days, and unavailable for questions.

I went to diagnostic center to get all reports from previous MRIs and walked them into physical medicine gave to a nurse and requested dr.call me.

MA had mixed old reports up bc diagnostic center all reports new and old to pcp's office for comparison. PCP directed. MA to call me with esults and referral.

The wrong results were read and i was being referred by old results. Physicl med called clarified that new results showed no change compared to results 4yrs prior and i was not a candidate for surgery.

I was LIVID bc the PCP would get the results wrong , have the MA read an old teport and refer me to surgery and not be available for questions.

On top of still recovering from the trauma of 7consecutive surgeries after very dangerous md had botched a hysterectomy, hid the mistake, and tried to get the MA to contact the surgeon who identified herself as a nurse.

I believed the MA was a nurse until i told her what sxs. I was experiencing and she gave me the feedback of some lay person that had no idea wht to say. When i pu d hed her to take a note to the Dr. explaining my sxs she was reluctant. Had to asked to be transferred to the secretary who took the note into the MD bc she realized this was too serious to hang on to trying and my nightmare began and 3 yrs later i am still living the nightmare of all he physical and psychological trauma done.

I eas very ****** with my pcp bc she knew what i went through every detail of my negligent care and uet he she i d handing things off to an MA, still referring to herself as nurse and the Dr. not being available for questions.

Because medical care is o poor i still wanted to deal with the PCP on her return, she minimized the incident. I explained that bc she did not grasp the full pic, that i could not be her pt and th s t i would be reporting the office for having an MA continue to call herself a nurse after i addressed this with her and explained it is illegal in all 50 states and Puerto Rico and how dare she put that young person and me in this compromising position. Her response was ok.

Reported it to BON.....several months later she had a new MA who called herself the Dr.'s nurse.

Please understand i dont care who a dr. hires, i absolutely CARE about people who are unlicensed going outside their scope of practice, but identifying themselves as nurses.

This is not a debte about ideology or about ego, it is simply illegal. Certifications are not licenses,therefore a MA is not a nurse because they do not have the training or licensure. It does not matter if they are very experienced or not. Only two groups may call themselves nurses, LVNS(LPNS) and RNS. No other group can use this title..it is not my rule it is the LAW.

So please all the defensive posts about the egos of nurses do not apply, take it up with your BON or DA'S OFFICE in your town. PS a student nurse or a GN may not use the title nurse unless they have obtained permanent licensure from their state BON or Puerto Rico.

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Sorry for duplicating latest post on MA's referring to selves as nurses. Tried to edit post and somehow duplicated it. Sorry if any inconvenience.

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If your not a nurse do not pretend to be one. First off it's illegal to do so and second you have no where near the education that we nurses have.

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GreyrntobeMDs are not to busy to tell MAs they are not able to use that title, often it is not addressed bc they use inexpensive help(MAs) to cut corners and give the office credibility. I dont think many mds respect tht nursing is a licensed profession. If nurses posed as mds how long do you think a md would allow this to happen or the Medical Board would get involvd without apologies bc it is illegal to present yourself as a licensed person and you do not have the education, experience or licensure.

If the BON ould intetvene in this matter it would stop again the BON has the teeth to enforce this regardless of what an md desires. It is careless lazy and insulting tht doctors ofices are not addressing this.

Again this is not a debate about ideologies, ot is about public safety. I CAN NOT GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE bc it is out of the scope of education and pactice. I can be charged ith a FELONY. SOcan MAs and doctors who allow this. I do think MAs dont understand the legal ramifications, but the doctors do and they allow it to happen purposely and they should be held accountable.

I wonder how many med errors have been made with calling in rxs or inappropriate info given to surgery pts or other serious matters. THIS IS EXTREMELY SERIOUS AND HAS BEEN IGNORED TOO LONG.

I try to very respectively inform MAs that they ned to ear nme badges and the office and them could get in a lot of trouble if they represent themselves at nurses. I have found most dont know it is serious and the mds said on horing you are my nurse i think the responsibility should fall squarely on the mds and not on the MAs

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