Medical Assistants in the office

Specialties Ambulatory

Published

This is probably going to open a can of worms.............but how do you all feel about replacing nurses in the office setting with Medical Assistants? How (if at all) do you feel it affects patient care?

Do any of the MA's in your offices refer to themselves as "nurses"? Have you had any problems with the knowledge base of the MA's? How are they with patient education?

May be just my situation, but I have run across some significant problems in this area................and not sure how to address it...........or even if I can address it.

I don't think your offending anyone, but stating how you feel. To agree with an above post, I too am 'sick of it'. Sick of being degraded everytime I turn around by nurses because I'm not one. Just the other day I called a patient to tell her her blood sugar results, which were high for the third time in a row. I explained to her that the Dr was concered that she may have pre-diabetes and we needed to do some follow-up. Well, she cursed me out and told me about 10 times that's she's an RN, and she KNOWS I'm ONLY a CMA, and therefor, didn't know what I was talking about. What the *ell?? Ya know, nothing in life is fair. So nurses aren't the only ones in the medical world anymore. I'm tired of it. Well, my DR ended up calling the nurse back, repeating the same things I had told her and she was like, "OK Dr. I understand, blah, blah, blah." I once had an RN with a BSN take a triage call from a patient who stated he'd just done his blood sugar reading at home and it was 825. She asked me if it was OK for him to wait 2 days to see the doctor, or should he come in right away? Hello? Who is supposed to know more??? Stupidity and ignorance can be found on any level. Let's not forget the time an LPN instructed a patient to use an alcohol swab on her bottom for a clean catch urine because she couldn't find the proper swabs, and though it would be just as effective. See what I'm saying? :o

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I have followed this with interest

I work in an Internal medicine office.. we see a many sick pateints as well as healthy patients.

I want to say this........... . the people with chronic health conditions such as Diabetes, CHF, COPD, CAD etc need to have access to a medical professional with a broad knowledge base and good critical thinking skills.

I deal with questions that utilize not only my anatomy and physiology knowledge but I utilize the skills and education I gained as hospital nurse. The "nursing License" I carry and all the work of obtaining that license enables me to better care for the office pateints. My teaching skills and critical thinking skills were part of my nursing curriculum. My hospital nursing experiences also improve my office interactions with the hospital personnel, pharmacies etc.

So those of you who have chosen to be Office MAS, should not be offended by the patient who questions you, but simply understand the patient wants advice from a person they view as more knowledgable.

As Nurses, we are able to frame medical responses differently because of our training and our education. We spent years learning about disease and disease process as well as countless hours administering medications and caring for sick patients in the hospitals. We undestand the BIgger picture.

So please identify your self by your title and be proud of who you are and what you do..MAs are a valuable asset to most offices but recognize your limitations as an MA and that your effectivenss in some areas will be limited by your background

GOOOD Medical care is often about the team.. so my goal is to use a team approach and make life better for as many people as I possibly can.

Thinking it through....sharing my world

Joy and Smiles*Darla***

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hey hissy

a MA cannot do assesments that I know of, or make decisions with regard to the patient

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I have to say as an RN it's almost impossible in my part of the country (KY) to get a job in an office of any type due to the fact that physicians are replacing or choosing MA's over RN's all for the simple fact of money. I too was a medical assistant but worked the business/insurance part. I know what training MA's get and its very basic and there should be no comparison to RN's. The depth of knowledge we nurses have to know is endless. Right now I work in a really screwy situation that I'm trying to get out of because, my supervisor is an LPN, ( no offense)and is very immature about being over me and the other so called nurse is a lab technician doing things out of her scope of practice. In the main office they have surgical tech giving injections and working outside her scope of practice. I"m treated like i'm the bottom of the totum pole...things are really backwards and I'm searching for another office and trying to stay out of the hospitals. But my search is not going well due to this fact about hiring MA's cause they work cheap. What they don't see is future liabilities when the public catches on to MA's and other fields working outside their practice. No wonder the quality of healthcare is declining....all about cost containment.

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I had to fill in for a MA one day for pt intake. Let me tell you, they work hard. I told the other nurses that I don't ever want to be "Jane" again! :) She does a lot more than I was aware of. Of course that day I got all the nurse visits too, so that made it even worse.

Honestly, our office couldn't survive without the MA's. I've never heard one of them refer to themselves as a nurse. Their title is clearly stated on their name badge.

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In our urgent care facility we utilize RN's, LPN's, MA's, and X-ray techs. I believe there is a need for all of us. The important thing to remember is your scope of practice and too make sure that the patients are care for and safe for harm.

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Originally posted by EMTMom

I would feel very offended if a nurse asked me to show her the vials of medicine I was giving before I gave her the injections. As would you if another nurse asked the same. If this is truely the case, the lack of trust and understanding, or complete apparent lack of education on part of the MA, in your community, you should be bringing it up to the mdical board of that facility. As should anyone who obsereves a medical professional acting unsafely.Lisa

I would be quite sorry that you were offended if I asked you to show me the vials, but I would still need to see the vials. I'd probably also apologize if you were offended. But still, I'd look at the vials. I've trained students, I've precepted other nurses, and I know how to check somebody's work without being offensive.

If I'd gotten to know you, and you'd demonstrated your knowledge and skills over time, then I'd probably be less vigilant.

Personally, I've never been offended when somebody wanted to see vials/wrappers or anything like that. It just makes sense to be cautious when it's your health.

Love

Dennie

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The main problem I have with MA's being referred to as "the nurse" is because it makes nurses look bad! It isn't fair when patients expect an MA to have the knowledge base of an RN. If the MA refers to herself as a nurse and then seems ininformed about a treatment, a medication, or a disease, the patient will tell everyone he knows about "That stupid NURSE!"

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I had to comment when I saw this post. I came across this in the office I work at. They hired a MA, at an LPN's pay for starters, which in it's own is a slap in the face (once again our education , skills mean nothing more than the next persons). She not only called herself "nurse" she tried telling everyone but the nursing staff (b/c we knew better) that she was higher up than a LPN. I walked up on this conversation, and needless to say, I DID correct her on the matter, and even brought her materials on the matter, she soon left the office. I was in noway trying to belittle her, I was simply not letting her act as if she went to school longer, knew more, could do more, etc. I feel as if I stood up for all of the nurses in our office that day. We DID go to college and earn a LICENSE!! Sorry, had to get that off my chest....lol

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Thank you very much Melsay for that....

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Specializes in NICU.

I have called my ob/gyn's office, and been told "I'll let you talk to his nurse". Used to be a nurse, not any more, it's an MA. This is a large clinic, the LVN that used to be his nurse is now the office manager.....and the only nurse left in ob/gyn. The docs don't have any choice, it's a clinic decision.

If I'm told she is a nurse again, I will bring it up with my doc......

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Go get em Mimi2RN...lol....let em have it :)

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