medical assistiant: would it give experiance in a "daily life" of a nurse?

jlove86 · Sep 15, 2009

Sounds like something I should have written! I'm in the exact same spot, and wondering the same type of things, so I'll be watching this thread.

pca_85 · Sep 15, 2009

Medical assistants follow the medical model, not the nursing model. I'd go for CNA, but clearly, Im biased lol.

iwanna · Sep 15, 2009

It depends on what type of nursing that you are interested in. Medical Assistants work in outpatient only. Medical Assistants work mainly in drs. offices.

Getting a degree as medical office assistant, then to continue into nursing is the expensive route to go. I started out to be a medical office assistant and decided half-way through that I wanted to be a nurse. I wish I would have left the business school when I first had that feeling, and I would have saved a lot of money.

On the plus side, it did help with my medical terminology and helped with the anatomy when I went to college for my pre-reqs.

If you want to work in drs. office, then going to be a medical assistant would be fine. There is room for advancement being an office manager, or practice manager. Nurses make more than medical assistants, but nurses in drs. office will make much less than other areas of nursing. But, there are pros to this area of nursing,as no weekends or holidays.

If you would like to work in hospital, then I would get CNA. It doesn't take as long, plus many nursing homes will pay for your training, if you work with them for an agreed amount of time.

Good Luck!

michelle_d · Sep 15, 2009

Thanks Iwanna, that was a very resourceful post, and thanks to the other posters too. I believe that the CNA is the best rout after what you wrote. At the moment, I was thinking of getting my certificate at the same college I just got an associate's in graphic design from, but I might look and see if any hospitals or nursing homes would fund the education for me.

One thing I was concerned over was accreditation. There were many 'train to work' types of organizations that I found that offered certificates, but none of them were accredited with any medical organizations, or any organizations at that. That's why I decided on the junior college. I've heard that the best way to tell if a program is good quality is to see if the organization offering it is credited with a medical organization. Is this true?

kemkem · Sep 15, 2009

You spelled experience wrong too! :redbeathe To answer your question. . unless you plan to work in a Dr.'s office, being an MA is NOTHING like being a nurse. Just my :twocents: . In the same amount of time (and probably spending the same amount of money) you can just become an LPN and make DOUBLE what an MA makes. That way, you will actually be a nurse and from there you can decide if you would like to continue on to your RN from that point. If at that time you decide that nursing isn't for you, it's only 11 months to a year wasted, (roughly the same amount of time it would have taken to become an MA) and you will have a well paying career to fall back on while you go back to school for whatever it is you do decide to pursue. Just MHO.

Good Luck!

michelle_d · Sep 15, 2009

Haha I fail at spelling.

I've decided go to the CNA route, mostly because it's quicker and because it's cheaper. Like some other people said, I woudln't learn as much if I went the MA way.

But, I'm curious if anyone knows anything about those 'train to work' organizations that offer certification in things. I'm steering clear of them at this point, because none of them are accredited with any organization. Does that sound like the best course of action?